Honours even in Milan thriller

Newcastle United FC and Internazionale FC will both go into Matchday 12 needing a victory to seal their progress to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after the two sides drew 2-2 in a thrilling Group A encounter at the San Siro.

Shearer at the double
Alan Shearer, who scored a hat-trick against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Matchday 10, gave the English side the lead when he converted from close range three minutes before the break. Inter levelled two minutes after the restart through Christian Vieri's header - the Italian international's first Champions League goal of the season, but Shearer restored the visitors' advantage following an error by Inter keeper Francesco Toldo a further two minutes later.

All or nothing
Iván Córdoba's towering header on the hour mark proved to be the end of the scoring and Inter, a point above tonight's opponents in the group table, now only need to match the result between Newcastle and FC Barcelona next week to progress. The Italian side travel to Leverkusen on Matchday 12.

Barça through
The other Group A match saw Barcelona book their place in the last eight with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Leverkusen - a result that confirmed them as section winners. Javier Saviola gave Barça the lead on 17 minutes from a Marc Overmars cross before a Frank de Boer header, deflected in by Thomas Kleine, sealed the fate of Leverkusen, already eliminated prior to tonight's match.

Roma still alive
AS Roma's dream of progress is still alive after they survived the sending-off of Francesco Totti to claim a 1-1 draw against Group B rivals Arsenal FC at Highbury. In a pulsating first period, Patrick Vieira put the Premiership champions ahead after 12 minutes, rising highest to head Giovanni van Bronckhorst's corner past Ivan Pelizzoli.

Totti sent off
Roma were then reduced to ten men when captain Totti was shown the red card following an aerial challenge with Martin Keown midway through the half. With the half-time whistle approaching, however, Antonio Cassano raced clear and rounded David Seaman in the Arsenal goal before tucking in the equaliser. A scoreless second half means that a draw for Arsenal in their next match at Valencia CF will be enough, while Roma must win at home to AFC Ajax to have a chance.

Stalemate in Amsterdam
In the group's other game, Valencia and Ajax played out a 1-1 draw in Amsterdam. Group leaders Ajax fell behind seven minutes before half-time when Kily González kept his nerve to beat Bogdan Lobont after Tomas Galášek had pulled down Francisco Rufete. Finnish defender Petri Pasanen drew the hosts level two minutes before the hour when his header from a corner beat Santiago Cañizares.