Spanish football giants Real Madrid sealed their place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Thursday while English Premier League title rivals Manchester United and Manchester City both closed in on the knockout phase.
United won 2-0 at home to Romanian champions Otelul Galati in Group C and can make sure of a place in the next round with victory at home to Benfica in their next game on November 23rd.
City muscled into second place in Group A with a 3-0 victory at injury-ravaged Villarreal - their first away win in the competition's history - while elsewhere in the group Napoli's last-16 hopes took a blow in a 3-2 defeat at Bayern Munich.
Cristiano Ronaldo reached the 100-goal milestone for Real Madrid with both goals in a 2-0 succes at Lyon to secure Real's first ever win at Stade Gerland and a place in the last 16.
Defeat for Lyon was doubly damaging, as it coincided with a 4-0 victory for Ajax at home to Dinamo Zagreb that lifted the Dutch giants three points clear of the French side ahead of the two sides' meeting at Gerland later this month.
Inter Milan put their domestic woes behind them to beat French champions Lille 2-1 and open up a four-point lead in Group B.
