TORRES ON TARGET

The victories,though,leave the two of them all but certain to qualify and the only question remaining is who finishes top of their Group H. That was certainly the matter on Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri’s mind.

“It was an important win tonight to help with qualification,we still need points but our aim is to be playing Barcelona for first place,that would be an important result for the subsequent draw,” he said.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admitted that his side’s performance had lacked the cutting edge. “It was a good game but not an exhibition of football from us,” he said. “It is never easy when the opposition is defending very deep but it was not just a case of the ball not going in,we were not clinical enough.”

Chelsea manager Andres Villas-Boas could afford to make six changes to the starting line-up that beat Everton last

Saturday and saw his side wrap up the match in the first-half. Torres’ double and one apiece from another former Liverpool player Raul Meireles and Branko Ivanovic left Genk reeling before Salomon Kalou added another in the second half. “We were happy to score very early,” Villas-Boas said.

“That put us in a very comfortable position. In a game that everyone expects you to win surprises can happen but we were able to keep our concentration and get a good result.”

Chelsea lead Group E by a point from German side Bayer

Leverkusen,who showed great spirit in coming from 1-0 down at home to Valencia to win 2-1. Two goals in three second-half minutes from Andre Schurrle and Sidney Sam getting them a crucial win. Chelsea’s struggling Premier League rivals Arsenal – who like Chelsea have yet to capture the trophy having lost in the one final they also contested — scored a late winner through Aaron Ramsey to come away from Marseille with a 1-0 win. The win takes Arsenal to top of Group F.