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Canwest News Service
Barcelona revived its chances of holding onto the Champions League title with a 2-0 victory over Inter Milan yesterday, while Fiorentina and Arsenal advanced to the second round and Liverpool was eliminated. In danger of getting knocked out, Barcelona (2-1-2) beat visiting Inter (1-1-3) on goals by Gerard Pique in the 10th minute and Pedro Rodriguez in the 26th to move from third place into first in Group F. Barcelona won without injured forwards Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Fiorentina (4-1) clinched a berth among the final 16 by defeating visiting Lyon 1-0 on a 28th-minute penalty kick by Juan Vargas. Lyon (3-1-1) also is assured of advancing, and that eliminated third-place Liverpool (2-2-1), which won 1-0 at Hungary's Debrecen on David Ngog's goal. "I'm very disappointed because we had chances in all the games," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. "We were not worse than the other teams." Arsenal (4-0-1) clinched first place in Group H, defeating Standard Liege 2-0 in London.
