Hamburg - Sevilla and Olympique Lyon on Tuesday closed in on the knock-out stage of the Champions League by winning their third group game in a row in the lucrative competition, while Barcelona were stunned at home by rookies Rubin Kazan. Sevilla won their Group G game in Germany against VfB Stuttgart 3- 1, while Argentine international Cesar Delgado scored in injury time to give French club Lyon a 2-1 victory at Liverpool in a Group E match.
In Barcelona the defending champions were sensationally beaten 2-1 by Champions League rookies Rubin Kazan, who were given an ideal start in the 2nd minute by midfielder Aleksandr Ryazantsev's goal from a long-range effort.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalized just two minutes after the restart, but any hopes the home fans had of the goal settling their side and allowing them to score more were quashed in the 72nd minute when Turkish international Gokdeniz Karadeniz scored on the breakaway.
Yaha Toure nearly equalized in the third minute of injury time with a well-taken powerful header that crashed against the upright and back into play.
The other Group F game saw Inter Milan having to come back twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Dynamo Kiev. The group remains wide open with Barcelona, Kiev and Kazan all on four points, while Inter Milan are on three.
In Stuttgart Sevilla's French international defender Sebastien Squillaci scored twice to add to the pressure the home side's coach Markus Babbel already has as a result of a dismal start to the Bundesliga season.
The 3-1 defeat sees Stuttgart slip to third place in the table with just two points from their three matches. Unirea Urziceni scored a surprise 4-1 victory at Glasgow Rangers in the other group game to move to second on four points. Rangers have just one point.
Arsenal could have been in a similarly commanding position as Sevilla in Group H, had they not conceded an injury time equalizer in the Netherlands against the Dutch champions Alkmaar.
The 1-1 draw leaves Arsenal on seven points, one more than Olympiakos, who themselves scored a late goal to beat Standard Liege 2-1 in Greece to take them to six points.
Alkmaar are on two points, while Liege have one.
In Group E Liverpool are in real trouble after being beaten by Lyon, who top the group with nine points, while Fiorentina, who won 4-3 at Debrecen, are second on six points.
Liverpool are on three points, while Debrecen still have to open their points tally after three defeats.
