
By STUART CONDIE

updated 7:05 p.m. ET Nov. 23, 2011
Arsenal clinched a place in the second round of the Champions League on Wednesday night with a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund, but the Gunners could find themselves the only English club in the knockout stage.
A day after Manchester United and Manchester City both missed the chance to advance, Chelsea conceded a last-minute goal and lost 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen. The Blues risk missing out on the last 16 for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
Leverkusen advanced alongside Arsenal (3-0-2), which won 2-1 against visiting Borussia Dortmund (1-3-1) on two goals by Robin van Persie. APOEL (2-0-3) tied 0-0 at Zenit St. Petersburg (2-1-2) to become the first Cypriot club to make it past the group stage.
AC Milan (2-1-2) rallied twice but Xavi Hernandez scored in the 63rd minute to give defending champion Barcelona (4-0-1) a 3-2 road win that clinched first place in Group H. Lionel Messi scored his 25th goal of the season and assisted in the final goal for Barcelona, which extended its unbeaten streak to 27 games ? one sh of the club record.
With both teams already secured a spot in the second round, Mark van Bommel's own goal in the 14th minute gave Barcelona the lead, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic tied the score four minutes later against his former club.
Messi's twice-taken penalty kick, his 25th goal of the season, put the defending champions ahead in the 31st, but Kevin-Prince Boateng made it 2-2 in the 54th. Xavi scored off a pass from Messi through several defenders in the 63rd.
"If this game had been more decisive than I would have focused more on defense," Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. "Milan is a great team with a great history. It really means something to win here."
Valencia (2-1-2) cruised to a 7-0 rout of Genk (0-3-2) for the biggest Champions League win by a Spanish team, Porto (2-2-1) kept alive its hopes of advancing with a 2-0 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk (0-3-2) and Olympiakos (2-3) won 1-0 at Marseille (2-2-1).
Dortmund dominated the opening exchanges against Arsenal and had the home side under pressure even after injuries to Sven Bender and Mario Goetze midway through the first half.
Van Persie headed in Alex Song's 49th-minute cross at the far post and tapped in with four minutes left to give him 21 goals this season.
Shinji Kagawa scored for the German champions in injury time but Arsenal clinched Group F.
"The level has gone up a lot. You never win an easy game in the Champions League," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "I have 150 games in the Champions League as a manager and they are never easy."
Chelsea (2-1-2) went ahead on Didier Drogba's goal in the 48th minute, but Leverkusen (3-2) tied it in the 73rd as Sidney Sam drew out goalkeeper Petr Cech before crossing to Eren Derdiyok, who headed the ball into an empty net. Manuel Friedrich then scored on a header in injury time to add more pressure on Blues manager Andre Villas-Boas.
Chelsea must beat Valencia on Dec. 6 or hold the Spanish club to a 0-0 tie.
"We will need Stamford Bridge completely behind us to get the intensity right and the emotions right for the game," Villas-Boas said. "It's in our hands to qualify."
Roberto Soldado scored a first-half hat trick for Valencia after the opening goal from Jonas in the 10th minute. Pablo Hernandez, Aritz Aduriz and Tino Costa scored in the second half.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Roundup: Arsenal clinched a place in the second round of the Champions League on Wednesday night with a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund, but the Gunners could find themselves the only English club in the knockout stage.
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