English giants, Arsenal and Chelsea, are both through to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League following convincing victories on Wednesday.
Arsenal, playing away from home, thrashed Greek side, Olympiakos 3-0 in Athens, while at Stamford Bridge, the Blues produced an impressive display to beat FC Porto 2-0.
Both sides were in tricky situations and needed to avoid defeats against Greek and Portuguese oppositions.
Olivier Giroud inspired the Gunners to complete a Champions League group stage comeback as his hat-trick at Olympiakos sealed their place in the last 16.
Going into the game having lost three of their previous five fixtures, the Gunners needed to win by two goals or more at the Karaiskakis Stadium or better the 3-2 defeat they suffered at home to the Greek champions in September.
Mesut Ozil’s near-post cross in the 29th minute was met by the head of Giroud who squeezed the ball over the line for the first.
He added his second with just four minutes into the second half – pouncing into a sliding pass from Joel Campbell to sweep home.
The French striker completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute from the spot after Nacho Monreal’s cross was handed by diving Omar Elabdellaoui.
Arsenal become just the eighth side to advance through their group having taken three points or fewer from their opening four matches and end as Group runner-up behind Bayern Munich, which defeated Dynamo Zagreb 2-0 in Croatia.
A 12th minute own goal which rebounded off Ivan Marcano under pressure from Diego Costa and a well-worked second half strike from Brazilian winger Willian ensured victory for struggling English champions, Chelsea, and sent Porto into the Europa League.
The victory eases the pressure on Blues boss Jose Mourinho and sent them top of Group G.
