Only two more spots up for grabs

With today's Champions League action over, there remains only two spots left in the knockout round.

Real Madrid, Olympiacos, Porto, Liverpool and Schalke joined the ranks of the qualified, each by winning their final matches. They join Chelsea, AC Milan, Celtic, Barcelona, Manchester United, Roma, Inter Milan, Sevilla and Arsenal, who had already qualified.

Tomorrow, Rangers host Lyon, with the home side only needing a draw to advance, courtesy of a better goal difference.

In Group G, Fenerbahce advance if they beat CSKA Moscow at home. The Turkish side can also advance if PSV lose their match at home against Inter. PSV need to hope Fenerbahce slip up and they can beat the odds against the Italians to move on.

Chelsea, after losing Didier Drogba for several months due to injury, look to have their work cut out for them in the League and in Europe. The Blues only managed a 0 - 0 draw at home against Valencia. Drogba is the key to the Chelsea attack, which looks impotent when he's not in the lineup.

Valencia are a side in disarray, not having won since Nov. 10. Even without Drogba, Chelsea should have picked up three points at home. Avram Grant surely must be counting the days until the transfer window opens and he can raid Roman's piggy bank to cover off Drogba and his other African Nations' Cup-bound players. Arsenal v. Chelsea on Sunday could be even more interesting with the two sides sputtering at the moment.

Liverpool are through, pulling off their third consecutive victory in the Champions League, beating Marseilles 4 - 0. With 16 goals in the past three European games, it's much more painful to remember they lost to Reading on the weekend. The match on Sunday against Man United will be a better litmus test of the Reds quality.

And finally, Ryan Babel of the aforementioned Liverpool, is becoming the Garbage time King of the World. The young Dutchman scored a meaningless (but well-taken nonetheless) goal in the game in France today. By my count, he's now scored five goals in the final thirty minutes when his team has been up by two goals or more. He does well to score them, but it would be nice to see the talented youngster score when it matters.