Chelsea cruise past Schalke, Arsenal edge Dortmund, Barcelona into knockout stage

The second lot of fixtures from matchday 4 of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League were completed on Wednesday night with Barcelona booking their place in the Round of 16.

The Catalan giants beat AC Milan 3-1 at the Camp Nou to move five points clear on top of Group H which has them six points and 11 goals ahead of third-placed Ajax.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring with a thunderous strike from the penalty spot on the half-hour mark after Neymar had been pulled back by Ignazio Abate in the area.

Sergio Busquets added a second ten minutes later when he headed home Xavi’s free-kick without a defender near him before Gerard Pique’s own-goal from Kaka’s left-sided cross pulled one back for the Rossoneri on the stroke of half-time.

With seven minutes remaining, Messi moved to within seven goals of Raul’s all-time Champions League scoring record of 71, when he deftly chipped over Christian Abbiati following a lovely ball from Cesc Fabregas.

Chelsea remained top of Group E courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Schalke at Stamford Bridge thanks to a brace from Samuel Eto’o, including a howler from opposing keeper Tino Hildebrand, and a late goal from Demba Ba.

Arsenal became the first English club to beat Borussia Dortmund at Westfalenstadion when they edged last season’s runners-up 1-0 thanks to a second-half header from the in-form Aaron Ramsey as Napoli beat Marseille 3-2 in the other Group F fixture with Gonzalo Higuain netting a double.

Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid comfortably beat Austria Vienna 4-0, FC Porto held Zenit St Petersburg to a 1-1 draw, FC Basel and Steaua Bucharest drew 1-1 and Ajax edged Celtic 1-0.