Barcelona and Sporting advanced to the Champions League knockout stage while Inter Milan and Chelsea missed the chance to guarantee their places on Tuesday.
A 1-1 draw at home to Basel was enough for Barca to qualify from Group C alongside Portugal's Sporting, who beat Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 thanks to Brazilian striker Derlei's 73rd-minute strike.
Substitute Lionel Messi put the Spaniards en route to the next phase when he fired the home side in front in the 62nd minute, though Basel gave the Primera Liga leaders a fright with an equalizer from Eren Derdiyok eight minutes before the end.
In the other matches, last season's runners-up Chelsea fell 3-1 at AS Roma and Serie A champions Inter needed an 80th-minute header from striker Julio Cruz to salvage a 3-3 draw in Cyprus against a resilient Anorthosis Famagusta.
Liverpool, the 2005 champions, relied on a controversial stoppage-time penalty by captain Steven Gerrard to secure a 1-1 home draw with Atletico Madrid and remain level on eight points with the Spaniards at the top of Group D.
Inter's draw, combined with Panathinaikos's 3-0 win at Werder Bremen, left Group B wide open with two matches remaining. The Italians are top on eight points from four games, Anorthosis have five, Panathinaikos four and Werder three.
Group A has a similarly tight look to it, with Chelsea on seven, one more than Roma and Girondins Bordeaux who beat CFR Cluj 2-1. The Romanians are still in contention with four points.
Defender Christian Panucci put Roma ahead before Mirko Vucinic struck twice at the start of the second half to end the Italian club's five-game losing streak.
The Londoners pulled one back through captain John Terry in the 75th before having midfielder Deco sent off for a second yellow card five minutes later.
Despite the defeat Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari remains confident his side will progress.
After their draw, Liverpool and Atletico are favourites to progress from Group D where Olympique Marseille and PSV Eindhoven are five points behind after the French side defeated their Dutch opponents 3-0.
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