Valencia book quarter-final place
Fabian Ayala, John Carew, Kily Gonzalez and Diego Alonso (2) scored for last season's beaten European Cup finalists who totally dominated the game after Sturm Graz were reduced to 10-men when defender Gilbert Prilasnig was sent off for a professional foul in the 35th minute.
Ayala opened the scoring after only five minutes with a header resulting from a corner taken by captain Gaizka Mendieta - who will miss the final match of the second phase after a booking in the 79th minute.
Carew struck five minutes after the break before hitting the post in the 58th minute. Kily Gonzalez made it 3-0 with a thundering shot in the 60th minute.
Second-half substitute Alonso scored two classy goals in the 88th minute and 90th minutes.
Valencia qualify as they cannot finish lower than second because they have a better head-to-head record against Manchester United.
A hat-trick from substitute Walter Pandiani helped Deportivo Coruna come back from 3-0 down to clinch a 4-3 win over Paris St Germain in an astonishing group B clash last night.
The French side, leading after 55 minutes by a deflected strike from Augustine Okocha and a superbly taken double from Laurent Leroy, appeared certain to keep alive their hopes of a quarter-final place with victory over the Spanish champions. Deportivo, inspired by substitutes Pandiani and Diego Tristan, came roaring back at them, though, to become only the second side in the history of the Champions League to recover from three goals down to win.
A bullet header from Pandiani on 57 minutes put them back in touch and three minutes later Tristan's near-post header with his first touch of the ball made it 2-3.
The Argentine struck the equaliser on 76 minutes as he took advantage of a brilliant flick on from Roy Makaay and he completed a hat-trick of headers with six minutes to go with a near-post flick from a corner.
The result knocked PSG out of the competition and took Deportivo up to second in the group.
A draw in their final game at AC Milan next week would be enough to take them through to the quarter-finals.
Galatasaray beat AC Milan 2-0 in the other group B game, securing the first-ever place for a Turkish team in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
An audacious lob from Romanian midfielder Gheorghe Hagi put the Turkish side ahead in the 19th minute.
Brazilian striker Mario Jardel sealed the victory, running clear against Milan 'keeper Nelson Dida and sliding the ball past him.
The win puts Galatasaray top of group B with 10 points, securing them a certain first or second place, whatever the results of the final round of matches.
Meanwhile in England, Nottingham Forest moved up one place to eighth and kept alive their hopes of a play-off place in the English first division after a 1-0 home win over Barnsley last night. Midfielder Chris Bart-Williams scored the only goal of the game in the second minute.
Forest move above Graham Taylor's Watford, whose faltering promtion campaign continued with a 1-1 draw at struggling Queens Park Rangers.
Rangers took the lead in the 51st minute with a penalty from Michel N'gonge against his former club, before Allan Nielsen converted a Tommy Smith cross to make it 1-1 in the 66th minute.
The point was not enough to lift Rangers out of the relegation zone but they moved up a place to third from bottom.
Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth battled to a goalless stalemate.
