Udinese were five minutes from advancing, only for late goals from Santiago Ezquerro and Andres Iniesta to give Barcelona, who had already made sure of their place in the last 16, a 2-0 win.

That result allowed Werder Bremen to sneak above the Italians and reach the knock-out stages after their sensational 5-1 thrashing of Panathinaikos.

Thomas Schaaf’s side opened the scoring courtesy of Johan Micoud’s second-minute penalty and Nelson Valdez netted twice in four minutes midway through the first half, with Miroslav Klose adding a fourth after half-time.

Nasif Morris headed a consolation for Alberto Malesani’s Panathinaikos, before Torsten Frings put the seal on a superb Bremen performance by rifling home a low drive in the first minute of injury time.

Udinese will now play in the UEFA Cup.

Thun finished third in Group B after their goalless draw with Sparta Prague, who bow out.

Juventus made sure of top spot in Group A with a 3-1 win at Rapid Vienna.

Bayern Munich, who were top at kick-off, were held to a 1-1 draw at Club Brugge, Javier Portillo cancelling out Claudio Pizarro’s opener but Felix Magath’s men finish second.

Alessandro Del Piero netted twice in Juve’s victory with Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic also on target. Marek Kincl netted Rapid’s consolation.