Bayern Munich, Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven and Valencia reached the knockout round of the Champions League on Tuesday with two group matches to spare.
The fate of Barcelona hangs in the balance, though, after Chelsea equalised deep in stoppage time to force a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp and leave the European champions in third place in Group A with five points from four matches.
Chelsea top the group with 10 points, followed by Werder Bremen on seven after a thumping 3-0 win at Bulgarian side Levski Sofia, who were eliminated.
As expected the sixth meeting between Chelsea and Barcelona in the last three seasons lived up to all the pre-match hype and featured four goals, 10 bookings, frequent flare-ups -- and some very good football especially in the second half.
Didier Drogba scored deep into stoppage time to earn Chelsea the draw after Barcelona had led twice.
Barca got off to a dream start when midfielder Deco put them ahead in the third minute with a superb low drive after cutting across the edge of the area, but Chelsea got back in the match when Frank Lampard scored a remarkable equaliser.
The England midfielder swivelled around after appearing to take the ball too wide on the byline and then dinked a shot over keeper Victor Valdes and into the far corner from the tightest of angles seven minutes into the second half.
Eidur Gudjohnsen returned to haunt his former team mates when he scored to put Barcelona 2-1 up after 58 minutes, but Chelsea struck back just before the finish to steal a point.
BAYERN THROUGH
While Barcelona are still some way off qualifying, Bayern are in the knockout phase after a 0-0 home draw with Sporting Lisbon means they must finish first or second in Group B.
Inter Milan increased their chances of joining them from Group B after a 1-0 win in Moscow over Spartak where a first minute goal from Julio Cruz separated the teams.
Bayern have 10 points, Inter six, Sporting five and Spartak one -- after equalling AEK Athens's unwanted record of 21 Champions League matches without a win.
Nothing went right for Spartak who had to reach the ground by metro after being stuck in traffic and conceded a goal within a minute of the kickoff to Julio Cruz, who also scored in the first minute when the teams met in Milan two weeks ago.
Liverpool and PSV advanced from Group C after the Merseysiders beat Girondins Bordeaux 3-0 at Anfield and the Dutch beat Galatasaray 2-0 at the Phillips Stadium.
Liverpool and PSV have 10 points, Galatasaray and Bordeaux, who ended their games with 10 men, have a point each.
Bordeaux played for almost half-an-hour a man short after Brazilian Fernando was sent off for a headbutt but by then Liverpool were well in command.Luis Garcia opened the scoring with an angled, bouncing volley past Ulrich Rame in the 23rd minute.
Fernando was dismissed in the 67th for butting John Arne Riise and Steven Gerrard took advantage of the space to sidefoot home the second four minutes later for his first goal of the season.
PSV ADVANCE
Garcia broke free to score the third and ensure Liverpool's progress from Group C. It was the first time for 100 matches that coach Rafa Benitez had kept the same starting lineup.
PSV also made it through to the last 16 against 10 men beating Galatasaray 2-0.
Second-half goals by Timmy Simons and Arouna Kone gave the Dutch victory with Simons opening the scoring on the hour with a close range header and Kone settling their third consecutive win six minutes from time.
Galatasaray's hopes of a positive result were hit seven minutes before the interval when Stjepan Tomas was sent off for a foul that stopped Jefferson Farfan running through on goal.
Without the Croatian central defender Galatasaray coach Erik Gerets -- who won the European Cup with PSV in 1988 -- was forced to reorganise his side but to no real avail.
Valencia also made it through after their 2-2 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk, while AS Roma (seven points) look poised to join them in the knockout phase from Group D.
Roma and Olympiakos drew 1-1 but the Italians stayed five points clear of the Greeks and Shakhtar with two games to play.
Roma came from behind when skipper Francesco Totti, who had missed a first half penalty, made amends in the second half with the equalising goal.
Matchday Four continues with Groups E-H on Wednesday.
