Football: Rosler on target with hat-trick

THE DEFENDING champions, Real Madrid, and the Italian pair, Juventus and Internazionale, all qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Cup last night.

They will be joined in the draw next Wednesday by Olympiakos Piraeus, Dynamo Kiev and Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich and Manchester United - meaning that only half the survivors from the 24-team group stage are champions of their domestic leagues: Olympiakos, Juventus, Kiev and Kaiserslautern.

The Germans were the biggest winners on the night, crushing HJK Helsinki 5-2 to wrap up Group F which they had already won. Uwe Rosler, the former Manchester City striker, scored a hat-trick for Kaiserslautern.

Group A ended with the Greeks, Olympiakos, in first place after their 1-1 draw at Croatia Zagreb. Juventus finished top of Group B even though their 2-0 victory over Rosenborg Trondheim was their first in the section. That put them on eight points, the same as Rosenborg and Galatasaray, but was enough to put them through ahead of the Norwegians and the Turks, who went out after losing 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao when needing only a draw.

Inter, 2-0 winners at Sturm Graz of Austria, won Group C by a point from Real Madrid, who eased through with a 2-1 victory over Spartak Moscow.

The European champions were always in command against a sluggish Spartak side and looked to be cruising to victory through headed goals from Raul Gonzalez and Savio Bortolini. But a loss of concentration in defence in the final minute allowed Dimitri Khlestov to put the Russians back into the game and give Guus Hiddink's side some anxious moments.

Dynamo Kiev beat Lens 3-1 to qualify for the quarter-finals for the second successive season. Kakha Kaladze, Vladyslav Vaschuk and Andriy Shevchenko scored for the Ukrainians after Lens' Frederic Dehu had been sent off early on.