CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Juventas' Champions League dreams were hanging by a thread after a surprise 3-1 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen last night In Group D.
The Serie A side were undone when Thomas Brdaric restored Leverkusen's lead in the second half and Marko Babic secured the win in injury time. They now need to better the 3-1 defeat they suffered to Arsenal at Highbury next week and hope for a Deportivo La Coruna win over Leverkusen.
Goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt had put the Germans in front from the penalty spot after Brdaric had won a dubious-looking penalty from Cristian Zenoni.
In Group C Porto resuscitated their chances of progressing after a 2-1 win over Panathinaikos despite Secretario's second-half dismissal. Porto were on easy street after goals early in each half from Deco and Pena.
But a 65th-minute strike from Joonas Kolkka and Secretario's red card on Emmanuel Olisadebe meant a few frayed nerve ends at a rain-soaked Estadio das Antas. But the Portuguese side can advance to the quarter-finals with a win at Sparta Prague if the Greeks lose to Real Madrid.
The Spanish champions, who have already secured their berth in the last eight, cruised to a 3-0 win over Sparta. Real Madrid scored three times within 11 minutes in the second half.
Real coach Vicente del Bosque chose to take the opportunity to rest Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Roberto Carlos and Fernando Hierro.
Santiago Solari got Real's first on 60 minutes. Four minutes later Guti made it 2-0 with a low shot from the edge of the box and Savio completed the job by heading in from Raul Bravo's high cross.
