Champions League: Real Madrid, Roma reach last 16 after CSKA's drubbing

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@realmadriden

Holders Real Madrid and AS Roma reached the knockout stages of the Champions League before kicking a ball on Wednesday after CSKA Moscow lost 2-1 following a late collapse at home to Viktoria Plzen in Group G. 

CSKA had to clinch a victory to hold any chance of reeling in the top two, who both had nine points before they met later on Wednesday in Rome, and took the lead after 10 minutes with a Nikola Vasic penalty after Lukas Hedja had tripped Georgi Shchennikov.

The Russian defender then conceded a penalty at the other end just before halftime for a foul on Radim Reznik. However, Russia`s World Cup goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev dived to his right to save Roman Prochazka`s weak effort.

Prochazka made up for that miss by beating Akinfeev with a miscued finish into the top right corner 10 minutes after the break before Hedja got redemption of his own by heading in a cross from Patrik Hrosovsky to complete Plzen`s comeback.

CSKA's first defeat by Czech opposition at home meant that Plzen join them on four points in the group, intensifying the battle for third place and a Europa League spot. 

Real Madrid, meanwhile, went on to clinch the match against Roma by 2-0 to maintain their dominance at the top of Group G with 12 points from five games.Roma are sitting a place behind Santiago Solari's side with nine points from three wins.