Returning striker Didier Drogba hit the winner in Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Romanian team CFR Cluj on Tuesday to see last season's Champions League finalists safely through to the knockout stages.
Chelsea's victory together with Roma beating Bordeaux 2-0 in Rome was enough to ensure Luiz Felipe Scolari's side did not suffer the embarrassment of exiting at the group stage for the first time ever in seven Champions League campaigns.
However it meant they finished second in Group A, which in theory hands them a more difficult clash in the last 16.
It left the combative Scolari a little underwhelmed, as he compared the spirit shown by his opponents as an example of what he wanted from his team.
"We had more of the ball but there was not a big difference between the teams. We didn't play very well, we played ok, but they have the spirit I want in my team," said the 2002 World Cup winning coach, who had claimed that exiting the Champions League wouldn't be a disaster.
"They fight for the ball and even if they made mistakes, everyone understood this and fought to help them. They played as a team," added Scolari, who it was claimed by assistant Ray Wilkins had been looking tired and stressed last week amid reports of internal discord with several senior players.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti could rejoice in seeing his side's fortunes turn around over a matter of weeks when he was under immense pressure.
"This is a really prestigious result (to finish top of the group)," he said. "I would give my boys 12 out of 10," added the coach.
Chelsea will however avoid former manager Jose Mourinho's side Inter Milan in the last 16 as his team finished only second in Group B after being surprisingly beaten 2-1 by German side Werder Bremen.
"I am disappointed, but you had one side playing life or death football and the other who were just playing for a result," said Inter coach Jose Mourinho.
"I left a few names out of the team which was an indication of what we were trying to do here and so you have to except the result.
"We'd like someone like Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Manchester United in the next round, we won't be an easy game for them."
Panathinaikos finished top after beating Anorthosis Famagusta 1-0.
Chelsea's Premiership rivals Liverpool, though, did finish top of Group D after defeating PSV Eindhoven 3-1 with young French striker David N'Gog scoring their final goal.
Atletico Madrid finished second after eking out a 0-0 draw with Marseille, where the atmosphere had lightened considerably earlier in the day when it was announced that a Marseille fan handed a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for assaulting a Madrid police officer was to be released on bail on Wednesday.
Atletico's Spanish rivals Barcelona still finished top of Group C despite losing with a largely second string side 3-2 at home to Ukrainian outfit Shakthar Donetsk.
Sporting Lisbon too already knew they would finish runners-up and rounded off their group campaign with a 1-0 win away at Basel.
The qualification of Chelsea, Roma and Panathinaikos completed the 16-team line-up in next year's first knockout round, with the draw on December 19.
Aussies wary of India trip
Australian cricketers are wary of travelling to India for the second season of Indian Premier League (IPL) in April-May next year after the recent Mumbai terror attacks, according to a report.
A report in 'The Australian' said senior Australian players are uncertain about going to India in the near future and player managers have also expressed concern.
Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke said security was one of the issues he had to weigh up when considering signing for the second edition of the IPL next year.
"I have a lot of things to consider. I have to think about the amount of cricket, I am trying to plan a wedding as well and I have to think about what happened there recently," said Clarke who did not join an IPL franchise this year and is yet to make up his mind about entering the Twenty20 event's second season next year.
"I am going to play this Test series (against South Africa) and then I can sit down with Lara (his fiancé) and my family and make a decision. I certainly would love to be part of the IPL, but it is a matter of timing. If I am right to go I will look forward to that." he added.
The report said other Australian players also said the terror attacks on the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, where they had stayed many times, had created anxiety about returning for IPL in April-May next year.
A report in 'The Australian' said senior Australian players are uncertain about going to India in the near future and player managers have also expressed concern.
Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke said security was one of the issues he had to weigh up when considering signing for the second edition of the IPL next year.
"I have a lot of things to consider. I have to think about the amount of cricket, I am trying to plan a wedding as well and I have to think about what happened there recently," said Clarke who did not join an IPL franchise this year and is yet to make up his mind about entering the Twenty20 event's second season next year.
"I am going to play this Test series (against South Africa) and then I can sit down with Lara (his fiancé) and my family and make a decision. I certainly would love to be part of the IPL, but it is a matter of timing. If I am right to go I will look forward to that." he added.
The report said other Australian players also said the terror attacks on the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, where they had stayed many times, had created anxiety about returning for IPL in April-May next year.
Shane Warne accepts musical
Australian cricket legend Shane Warne on Wednesday threw his support behind a musical stage show that presents a warts-and-all account of his controversy-laced career.
The bowler lashed out at the show's producers when they announced plans for "Shane Warne -- The Musical" earlier this year, believing they should have sought his permission before proceeding.
But Warne said he decided to see the musical for himself before it opened in his hometown of Melbourne this week and was pleasantly surprised at the tenor of the production starring comedian Eddie Perfect as the wayward spinner.
"I think Eddie and his team have written the musical in a respectful and sympathetic way, and that they have captured my fun, larrikin (lovable rogue) side," Warne wrote in the Herald Sun newspaper Wednesday.
The show has been promoted as "a new breed of Aussie music theatre that smokes, drinks, carries a few extra kilos and still brings home the Ashes."
With songs such as "What an SMS I'm In," it does not shy away from the sex, betting, drug and mobile phone scandals that plagued Warne during a stellar career that saw him take 708 Test wickets, the second highest tally in history.
Comedian Perfect said this week that the show was in many ways a tribute to a larger-than-life cricketer whose career had all the elements of an opera.
Warne said his initial misgivings centred on a fear that it would be peppered with "cheap gags" and he was particularly concerned about the way his ex-wife Simone and mother Brigitte would be portrayed.
The spinner, who retired from international cricket in January last year, said his friends and management persuaded him that the only way to make an informed decision about the musical was to see it himself.
His management arranged for him to attended a preview and, true to form, Warne said he steeled himself with a few beers before watching the performance from the back row of the theatre.
"I am suddenly very nervous. More edgy, even, than facing Pakistani quickie Shoaib Akhtar on a green, seaming deck, I reckon," Warne said of his feelings at seeing his life depicted on stage.
The 39-year-old said the show's opening sequences were funny, even though it was "weird" watching actors recreate his early career.
He admitted his apprehension mounted as the show approached its second half, which deals with the scandals that faced Warne at the height of his on-field prowess.
"There are a few more chuckles and the odd cringe -- but not too many, I must admit. Then, it's over," he said.
"My life in two hours has just flashed before my eyes. Again I felt weird but, in a strange way, proud of what I'd just witnessed," he added, declaring himself happy with the depiction of his ex-wife and mother.
While pointing out that the production exercises a degree of poetic licence, Warne said it had "a nice, warm feel (and) it also has passion and lots of emotion."
The bowler lashed out at the show's producers when they announced plans for "Shane Warne -- The Musical" earlier this year, believing they should have sought his permission before proceeding.
But Warne said he decided to see the musical for himself before it opened in his hometown of Melbourne this week and was pleasantly surprised at the tenor of the production starring comedian Eddie Perfect as the wayward spinner.
"I think Eddie and his team have written the musical in a respectful and sympathetic way, and that they have captured my fun, larrikin (lovable rogue) side," Warne wrote in the Herald Sun newspaper Wednesday.
The show has been promoted as "a new breed of Aussie music theatre that smokes, drinks, carries a few extra kilos and still brings home the Ashes."
With songs such as "What an SMS I'm In," it does not shy away from the sex, betting, drug and mobile phone scandals that plagued Warne during a stellar career that saw him take 708 Test wickets, the second highest tally in history.
Comedian Perfect said this week that the show was in many ways a tribute to a larger-than-life cricketer whose career had all the elements of an opera.
Warne said his initial misgivings centred on a fear that it would be peppered with "cheap gags" and he was particularly concerned about the way his ex-wife Simone and mother Brigitte would be portrayed.
The spinner, who retired from international cricket in January last year, said his friends and management persuaded him that the only way to make an informed decision about the musical was to see it himself.
His management arranged for him to attended a preview and, true to form, Warne said he steeled himself with a few beers before watching the performance from the back row of the theatre.
"I am suddenly very nervous. More edgy, even, than facing Pakistani quickie Shoaib Akhtar on a green, seaming deck, I reckon," Warne said of his feelings at seeing his life depicted on stage.
The 39-year-old said the show's opening sequences were funny, even though it was "weird" watching actors recreate his early career.
He admitted his apprehension mounted as the show approached its second half, which deals with the scandals that faced Warne at the height of his on-field prowess.
"There are a few more chuckles and the odd cringe -- but not too many, I must admit. Then, it's over," he said.
"My life in two hours has just flashed before my eyes. Again I felt weird but, in a strange way, proud of what I'd just witnessed," he added, declaring himself happy with the depiction of his ex-wife and mother.
While pointing out that the production exercises a degree of poetic licence, Warne said it had "a nice, warm feel (and) it also has passion and lots of emotion."
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