Champions League round-up:Goals from Karim Benzema and Alvaro Arbeloa and a Cristiano Ronaldo double gave Real Madrid a crushing 4-0 win at Ajax Amsterdam and secured top spot in Champions League Group Gfor the La Liga giants.
The boisterous Ajax fans did their best to warm up a chilly stadium and inspire their players. But the resounding loss to Real, who had already qualified for the knockout stage, and Milan's 2-0 win in Auxerre denied the Dutch clubs a place in the last 16.
Benzema put Real ahead in the 36th minute when he finished superbly past Maarten Stekelenburg from the edge of the penalty area after Mesut Ozil's clever flick before Arbeloa beat the goalkeeper with a speculative long-range effort in the 44th.
Stekelenburg turned a Ronaldo effort on to the crossbar two minutes after the break but was beaten with a low shot in the 70th and again from the penalty spot in the 81st after Ozil was fouled by Urby Emanuelson.
Milan guaranteed their passage with a comfortable win over Auxerre. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored twice against Auxerre in the Group G opener, netted the first goal in the 64th minute before Ronaldinho added the second during injury time. This result guarantees Milan second place in the group.
Group H:Ukrainian title holders Shakhtar Donetsk moved a step closer to the knockout stages with a 3-0 win at Partizan Belgrade. Shakhtar dominated the match in front of 20,000 vociferous Serbian fans and went top of the group after Arsenal lost 2-0 to Braga.
Central midfielder Taras Stepanenko fired classy Shakhtar ahead shortly after the break with a close-range goal before Brazilians Jadson and Eduardo completed the rout in a one-sided contest on a cold evening.
Partizan, having been eliminated from Europe thanks to a 1-0 home defeat by Braga in the previous round, stretched their winless streak in the Champions League group stage to 11 matches after another lacklustre performance.
Group F:Spartak Moscow crashed out after suffering a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Marseille. Republic of Ireland winger Aiden McGeady will now be hoping his side avoid a big defeat at bottom side Zilina in their last encounter to finish third and qualify for the Europa League.
Mathieu Valbuena put the French champions in front in the 18th minute and Loic Remy doubled the lead nine minutes after the break. Brandao sealed a well-deserved victory in the 68th that moved Marseille three points clear of the Russians.
Marseille have a better head-to-head record against Spartak after losing to them 1-0 in their Group F opener in September and will qualify for the round of 16 alongside Chelsea regardless of the outcome of their last match against the English champions.
Chelsea were 2-1 winners over Zilina.
Group E:Roma brilliantly battled back from 2-0 down to beat already-qualified Bayern Munich 3-2 and boost their own hopes of survival. In-form Bayern striker Mario Gomez scored twice to put the Germans in control at half-time before Claudio Ranieri's Roma side netted early in the second half through Marco Borriello.
Daniele de Rossi grabbed the equaliser from close range after 81 minutes and substitute Francesco Totti then made it 3-2 when he converted an 84th minute penalty after Borriello had been felled by goalkeeper Thomas Kraft. Roma travel to CFR Cluj, who lost 1-0 against Basel tonight, in the final round in a bid to make February's first knockout round.