Chelsea, Milan and Stuttgart rule on two fronts

Chelsea, AC Milan and VfB Stuttgart celebrated their mid-week passage into the last 16 of the Champions League by securing top spot in their respective domestic championships at the weekend.

Chelsea, the side assembled with nearly $200 million in less than two months, beat Manchester United 1-0 at home with a Frank Lampard penalty to overtake Arsenal at the top of England's Premier League.

Arsenal, who had crushed Inter Milan 5-1 at San Siro in the Champions League on Tuesday, were surprisingly held 0-0 by visiting Fulham.

Striker Andriy Shevchenko scored both goals for Milan in their 2-0 win over Modena that kept them level with AS Roma at the top of Serie A. Roma beat Lecce 3-1.

Stuttgart were held 0-0 at Bochum but, with all the other matches involving the leading teams in the Bundesliga also ending in draws, they stay two points clear of Werder Bremen.

Monaco, who qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League 24 hours earlier than Chelsea, Milan and Stuttgart, went six points clear in France after winning 1-0 at Nantes while second-placed Olympique Lyon went down 3-1 at Stade Rennes.

But Deportivo Coruna, who are still hopeful of reaching the Champions League knockout stage, were upset 1-0 at home by Villarreal and overtaken by Valencia, 3-2 winners at home to Real Zaragoza on Saturday.

TWO-GOAL HEROES

Roger scored the only goal at the Riazor one minute from time against a Depor side a man short from the 42nd following Brazilian Mauro Silva's dismissal.

Brazil's Ronaldo saved Real Madrid -- equal on points with Valencia and one above Deportivo -- from defeat with a late equaliser for a 1-1 draw away to surprise side Osasuna.

Shevchenko was not the only two-goal hero in Italy.

Inter's Argentine striker Julio Cruz, bought to replace Hernan Crespo when his compatriot left for Chelsea in August, scored the first two in his side's upset 3-1 win at Juventus on Saturday.

Juventus are one point behind the two leaders while Inter edged closer in fourth place.

Another South American, Peru's Claudio Pizarro scored twice in seven minutes for Bayern Munich in their 2-2 draw with FC Cologne on Saturday. Bayern stay fourth in the Bundesliga, six points adrift of Stuttgart.

Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart also scored two goals in seven minutes to give Ajax a 2-0 home victory over arch-rivals Feyenoord in the big derby in Amsterdam.

Ajax are four points clear of PSV Eindhoven, 4-0 winners at Zwolle on Saturday, in the Dutch first division, with Feyenoord fourth 10 points adrift.