Arsenal are one small step away from qualifying for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League after a comfortable 2-0 win over Marseille, while Chelsea entered the knockout stages despite losing to Basel for the second straight time this season.
Borussia Dortmund, last season's runners-up, kept their hopes alive of making the next round with a 3-1 win over Napoli, which in turn meant Arsenal could not seal their place in the pre-quarterfinals for the 11th consecutive time.
At the beginning of the day, the Gunners needed to better Dortmund's record to qualify, and all they could do is pick up all three points at the Emirates, and hope Napoli scupper the German side's plans.
Arsenal did their job exceedingly well, easing to a 2-0 win courtesy a brace from Jack Wilshere. The Arsenal midfielder put the home side ahead after just 28 seconds, breaking clear, courtesy a pass from Bacary Sagna, before cutting back and smashing the ball past Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.
The match should have been put to be bed in the first half, but Mandanda denied Aaron Ramsey a goal from close range, before Mesut Ozil missed from the penalty spot.
The referee pointed to the spot after Nicolas N'Koulou brought down Aaron Ramsey, with replays suggesting the infringement had happened just outside left side of the penalty box.
Ozil stepped up, but could not find a way past Mandanda with the Marseille custodian keeping his side in the game yet again.
Arsenal upped the tempo if anything in the second half, and after a few chances went begging, made it 2-0 in the 65th minute. Ramsey found Ozil on the right channel, who in turn cut the ball back to Wilshere to drive home from six yards.
Marseille mounted a brief comeback, but Arsenal saw that through with the home side also having a few more chances to bulge the lead.
The win takes Arsenal to 12 points from 5 matches, three clear of Dortmund and Napoli, with Marseille yet to pick up a single point.
Dortmund kept their hopes in the Champions League alive courtesy a clinical 3-1 result over the Italians. Marco Reus got the goal-ball rolling, netting from the penalty spot in the tenth minute, before Jakub Blaszczykowski doubled the German team's lead on the hour mark.
Lorenzo Insigne made it 2-1 eleven minutes later, but substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made sure of the three points with a strike in the 78th minute.
Group F now comes down to the final round of matches, with Arsenal only needing a draw at Napoli to ensure qualification, while Dortmund and the Italian side will look for all three points.
In Group E, Chelsea made the last 16 despite suffering a 1-0 loss at the hands of Basel, the second time the Swiss side have beaten the English Premier League team, following their 2-1 win over the Blues at Stamford Bridge on Matchday One.
The exceedingly-impressive Mohamed Salah scored the only goal of the game in the 87th minute with Chelsea not even mustering a single shot on target in the entire 90 minutes plus stoppage time.
However, the result proved to be academic for Chelsea, who qualified on the back of Schalke's 0-0 draw with Steaua Bucharest.
Chelsea, who play Steaua in their final group game, have nine points from five matches, with Basel moving up to second on eight. Schalke will need a win over the Swiss side on Matchday Six to ensure progress to the last 16.
In Group H, already-qualified Barcelona, without their talisman Lionel Messi, were shocked by Ajax 2-1. Thulani Serero and Danny Hoesen scored for the Dutch side in the first half to give them a 2-0 lead.
Barca pulled a goal back in the 49th minute from the penalty spot courtesy Xavi, with Ajax's Joel Veltman sent off. Ajax, though, held on in the second half, with Barcelona unable to find a way through to equalise.
The result matters little to Barcelona, who have 10 points from five matches, even if they could have sealed first spot with a win on Tuesday, while Ajax are third with seven points.
AC Milan moved into pole position to qualify along with Barca, thanks to a thumping 3-0 victory in Glasgow against Celtic - Kaka, Christian Zapata and Mario Balotelli getting the goals.
That means Celtic are out of the running, having picked up just three points from five games, leaving the up-for-grabs second spot to Milan and Ajax to fight for.
In Group G, Zenit St. Petersburg and Atletico Madrid, already through, drew 1-1 while Porto and Austria Wien also finished with the same result, leaving Zenit and Porto to fight it out for second spot on the final matchday.
