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BELGRADE - BARCELONA put one foot in the Champions League last 16 with a 5-0 away drubbing of Basel on Wednesday which left them as the only team with a 100 per cent record in the group stage after three matches.
Chelsea also closed in on the knockout stage after a John Terry header gave them a 1-0 home win over Roma and five-time winners Liverpool are in a good position too following a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid.
That result left the two teams joint top in Group D on seven points after Simao Sabrosa steered in a late equaliser to cancel out Robbie Keane's 14th-minute opener for Liverpool.
PSV Eindhoven chalked up their first points in the group with a 2-0 home win over Olympique Marseille, courtesy of a Danny Koevermans brace that left the 1993 European Cup winners rooted to the bottom with three defeats.
An Adriano goal on the stroke of half-time handed Inter Milan a 1-0 home success against Anorthosis Famagusta, leaving them firmly in the driving seat in Group B with seven points ahead of the Cypriots, who have four.
Werder Bremen registered their third straight draw after a 2-2 stalemate at Panathinaikos thanks to Hugo Almeida's 83rd-minute equaliser. The draw gave the Greek side their first point.
Torn apart
Crisp one-touch football from Barcelona tore Basel apart as Lionel Messi, Sergi Busquets and Bojan Krkic gave the 2006 winners a 3-0 lead in the opening 22 minutes.
Bojan added the fourth and Xavi Fernandez completed the rout within three minutes after the interval to give Barcelona an excellent chance of securing their progress to the last 16 in the reverse fixture against the Swiss side next month.
Chelsea dominated for long spells of their clash with Roma but were unable to create a clear-cut chance before Terry broke the deadlock in the 77th minute with a glancing header from Frank Lampard's corner.
Lampard shaved the woodwork with a curling shot in the first half and forced a good save from goalkeeper Cristiano Doni with a freekick in the closing stages as last season's finalists piled on the pressure.
Liverpool seemed to be heading for their third consecutive win after Keane took Steven Gerrard's through ball in his stride and fired past Leo Franco but Simao denied the visitors after good work by Diego Forlan seven minutes from time.
The evening's eight matches produced 17 goals in total, less than a half of Tuesday night's record-equalling tally of 36.
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