Barca win group as Lyon fight on

LYON, France -- Barcelona reached the knockout phase of the Champions League Tuesday as group E winners after drawing 2-2 away to French champions Lyon who can still join them as runners-up.

Lyon go to Glasgow next month knowing that a win would take them ahead of Rangers into second place after the Scottish side crashed 3-2 away to group also-rans Stuttgart.

Juninho was on target twice for Lyon in a high-tempo match which featured two second-half penalties.

Lyon's captain cancelled out Andres Iniesta's third minute strike with a long-range set piece four minutes later, before replying to Lionel Messi's 58th minute spot kick with a penalty of his own 10 minutes from time.

The French were without their injured top goalscorer Karim Benzema while Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard opted to keep embattled Brazilian star Ronaldinho on the bench even though he was missing Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o.

Perhaps buoyed by the news that Stuttgart had levelled against group qualification rivals Rangers, Lyon emerged a more determined team in the second half.

But they suffered a huge setback when Barcelona were awarded a penalty when Messi was fouled by Sebastien Squillaci as he headed for goal.

The Argentine stepped up and sent Vercoutre the wrong way with a left-foot shot, but was then booked for walking too slowly back to the centre spot.

In the 67th minute Barca came close to a third, but Vecoutre pulled off a superb diving save to block Gudjohnsen's close-range drive.

Rijkaard then sent on Ronaldinho for Gudjohnsen, but with 10 minutes left Lyon were given a lifeline as the referee pointed to the spot for an Abidal foul on Abdul Kader Keita.

Juninho's effort wrong-footed Valdes and levelled the scores at 2-2 in the 79th minute.

Rangers boss Walter Smith admitted Stuttgart's equaliser on the stroke of half-time was the turning point as his side went down in Germany to leave their campaign still in the balance -- and needing at least a draw at home to Lyon.

Rangers had taken the lead through substitute Charlie Adam before Stuttgart hit back through Cacau in first-half injury time.

Barry Ferguson then cancelled out Pavel Pardo's strike before Ciprian Marica clinched the win late on.

"We came out and worked very hard and managed to get back on level terms, then we had another opportunity just after when Charlie Adam could have put us in front," Smith said on Sky Sports News.

"I'm a little bit disappointed to lose but at the end of the day, I felt losing the goal before half-time was probably the turning point in the game from Stuttgart's point of view." E-mail to a friend