Celtic and AC Milan went through to the last 16 of the Champions League despite enjoying vastly contrasting fortunes on Tuesday.

Celtic celebrated one of the best nights in their long history of European competition by beating English rivals Manchester United 1-0 in Glasgow to ensure qualification fromGroup F and a berth in the knockout stage for the first time.

Shunsuke Nakamura scored the only goal of the game with a free kick eight minutes from time, while Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc joined him on the hero's rostrum by saving Louis Saha's weakly-taken 90th minute penalty.

Manchester United went in needing a win or draw at Celtic to advance, but they now have to avoid defeat at home to Benfica in their last match on December 6 to ensure progress.

Celtic top the group with nine points, followed by United (9), Benfica (7) and FC Copenhagen (4). Benfica beat Copenhagen 3-1 in the group's other game.

While Celtic were rejoicing, AC Milan lost 1-0 at AEK Athens, who have now won their last two matches ending their unenviable record of 21 games without a victory in the competition.

Julio Cesar scored the only goal from a free kick after 32 minutes but despite the defeat Milan cannot finish out of the top two places in Group H.

Although they advanced with a defeat, defender Alessandro Costacurta celebrated becoming the oldest player to appear in the Champions League at the age of 40 years 211 days.

QUALIFIED TEAMS

The Italians go into the last 16 along with Celtic and join Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Olympique Lyon, Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Valencia who have already qualified.

Milan have 10 points followed by AEK (7), Lille (6) and Anderlecht (3).

CSKA Moscow and Lille could also have clinched their places in the last 16 but results went against them and prevented them from doing so.

In Group G, CSKA lost 2-0 at home to Porto through goals by Ricardo Quaresma and Lucho Gonzalez.

That setback, together with Arsenal's 3-1 comeback win over Hamburg SV in the same group, meant CSKA slipped from first to third in the standings behind Arsenal and Porto.

Arsenal have 10 points, Porto are also on 10, CSKA have eight and Hamburg none.

Arsenal worked hard to beat the group's red lantern though, with the Germans taking the lead when Rafael van der Vaart scored with a superb shot after four minutes.

It took Arsenal until the 52nd minute to equalise through Robin van Persie before Emmanuel Eboue and Julio Baptista added two more for the Gunners in the last seven minutes.

However, Arsenal will be without Thierry Henry for the match in Porto after he picked up his third booking of the competition and now faces a one-match ban.

Lille could have advanced with Milan from Group H but after being held to an embarrassing 2-2 draw at home by Anderlecht, they now face an uphill task in their last match at Milan.

In Group E, Steaua Bucharest's 1-1 draw with Dynamo Kiev means the Romanian side qualify for a UEFA Cup place while Dynamo are eliminated from Europe.

Real Madrid's 2-2 home draw with Olympique Lyon in the same group ensures the French champions finish top although both teams had already ensured qualification.

Lyon have 13 points, Real 10, Steaua four and Dynamo one.

Real became the first team to breach the Lyon defence in European competition this season and could have inflicted a first defeat if Ruud van Nistelrooy, who scored Real's second in the 83rd, had not seen his 89th minute penalty saved by Gregory Coupet.

Matches continue on Wednesday with games in Groups A-D.

(Reuters November 22, 2006)