Unstoppable Lionel Messi took his calendar year tally to 80 goals with a brace on Tuesday as Barcelona stormed into the Champions League knockout stages 3-0 over hosting Spartak Moscow, dpa reported.
In group H, United manager Alex Ferguson fielded a b-team of sorts after leaving the likes of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie at home for the trip to Turkey's Galatasaray, who won 1-0 from Burak Yilmaz' 54th-minute header.
Chelsea, by contrast, crashed 3-0 at Juventus and need the help of others if they want to avoid the dubious distinction of becoming the first holders to go out in the next group stage of the elite event.
Barca advanced on the night along with fellow-Spaniards Valencia, last season's beaten finalists Bayern Munich and Shakhtar Donetsk on the night to join Manchester United, Malaga and Porto, who qualified for the round of 16 two weeks ago.
Messi, who had never scored in Russia before, was on target from the edge of the area in the 27th and shot into the empty net in the 39th after rounding goalkeeper Andriy Dikan on the artificial turf of the Luzhniki stadium.
Barcelona, whose first goal came from Dani Alves' low shot in the 16th, moved to 12 points in group G while Spartak remained last on three. Celtic and Benfica will battle out second as they are tied on seven after Benfica won their duel 2-1 on a rainy night in Lisbon.
Ezequiel Garay smashed the winner in the 71st after Giorgios Samaras' header had cancelled out Benfica's first lead from Ola John, bringing Celtic down to earth again after their stunning 2-1 against Barca two weeks ago.
Chelsea are third on seven points in group E, behind Shakhtar (10) and Juventus (nine). They must not only beat bottom club Nordsjaelland but also hope that Shakhtar beat Juve in the last game.
Shakhtar qualified with an emphatic 5-2 win at Nordsjaelland. Luiz Adriano scored a hat-trick, but earned the fury of the Danish home team and their fans when on his first which came off a drop ball which team-mate Willian had intended to kick back to the hosts.
Ten-man Valencia drew 1-1 with Munich which saw both through from group F. Valencia led from Sofiane Feghouli in the 77th although they had Antonio Barragan sent off in the first half. Thomas Mueller grtabbed the equalizer in the 82nd.
Valencia and Munich have 10 points, while BATE Borisoc are third on six points and will continue in the Europa League. Lille are last and out although they they got their first points in a 2-0 win in Belarus.
United have won the group with 12 points, Galatasaray and Romania's Cluj take seven each into the last round while Braga are out after losing 3-1 in Cluj from Rui Pedro's first-half hat-trick.
Cluj face a final trip to Old Trafford while Galatasaray are in Braga.