Juve, Barca through to group phase

PARIS (AFP) - Former champions Juventus and Barcelona on Tuesday reached the lucrative Champions League group stage after safely negotiating away second legs in their final qualifiers.

Both the Italians and the Catalan club had cruised to respective 4-0 wins over Slovakia's Artmedia Petrzalka and Poland's Wisla Krakow on their own turf - but Barca were sluggish in going down 1-0 on the night to a goal from Brazilian Cleber early in the second half.

That sealed their passage 4-1 on aggregate while Juve, who were held 1-1 on the night, went through 5-1 on aggregate.

Juve found themselves a goal behind after just 14 minutes when Branislav Fodrek put Artmedia ahead with an overhead kick but Amauri cancelled that strike out with a header nine minutes later as Claudio Ranieri's side, European champions in 1985 and 1996, secured a first group berth in three seasons.