Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund qualified for the round of 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, with authoritative home wins.
Real beat Liverpool 1-0, Dortmund hammered Galatasaray 4-1.
Real - who are trying to become the first team since AC Milan in 1990 to successfully defend their title - were in the driving seat from start to finish against Liverpool, in a high-profile Group B clash.
The only goal came in the 27th minute, when Karim Benzema broke the deadlock by turning in a perfect far-post centre from left-back Marcelo.
Gareth Bale came off the bench - after two weeks out injured - and hit the crossbar after another excellent centre from the impressive Marcelo.
Liverpool rarely threatened to equalize. Real's fourth win maintained their remarkable record of always reaching the knockout stage since 1998.
Basle are second in the group with six points, after their 4-0 thrashing of Ludogorets. The Bulgarians and Liverpool have three points apiece.
Meanwhile in Group D, Dortmund and Arsenal booked their round of 16 tickets in front of their own fans.
Dortmund emulated Real and made it four wins in four by caning brittle Galatasaray 4-1, on goals from Marco Reus, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Ciro Immobile - plus an own goal from Hakan Balta.
Dortmund are five points ahead of Arsenal, who threw away their passport to the knockout stage by allowing Anderlecht to come from 3-0 down to force a late, unlikely 3-3 draw.
Goals from Mikel Arteta, Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seemed to have won the game for the Gunners, but Anderlecht fought back with a brace from Anthony Vanden Borre followed by a late equalizer from young supersub Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Even so, Arsenal are almost sure to qualify given that Anderlecht have just two points and Galatasaray only one.
Atletico Madrid kept top spot in Group A with a 2-0 win in Malmo, courtesy of goals from Koke and Raul Garcia.
Meanwhile, Juventus snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a 3-2 comeback defeat of Olympiacos, thanks to an own goal from visiting keeper Roberto plus strikes from Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba.
Atletico have nine points, Olympiacos and Juventus six apiece and Malmo three.
Earlier Tuesday, Bayer Leverkusen extended their lead atop Champions League Group C with a 2-1 win at Zenit St Petersburg with a late brace from Heung Min Son.
The South Korean striker broke the deadlock in the 68th minute by turning in a free-kick from Karim Bellarabi, then made it 2-0 to the visitors five minutes later with a left-foot drive after taking a pass from Stefan Kiessling.
Salomon Rondon pulled a goal back for Zenit with a high drive two minutes from time, but Leverkusen managed to play out time with no further problems.
The win left them with nine points from four games. They are four points above second-placed Monaco, who crashed 1-0 at Benfica on a goal from Anderson Talisca. Benfica and Zenit have four points each.
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