Jose Mourinho turns on his critics after Samuel Eto'o fires Inter through

Going through: Samuel Eto'o scored to help push Inter Milan into the next round
Marco Giacomelli11 April 2012

Jose Mourinho was defiant after his Inter Milan side reached the last 16 with a 2-0 win over Rubin Kazan.

There had been speculation in the Italian media that the former Chelsea coach could have been sacked if the Serie A side had crashed out of the Champions League. But after goals from Samuel Eto'o and Mario Balotelli at the San Siro, Mourinho said: "Journalists don't decide my future, ex-players don't decide. If someone at the club with the authority decides, that's fine with me."

Eto'o struck first against the Russians when he capitalised on a clever back-heel from Balotelli, who then sealed victory on the hour with a thunderous free-kick.

Inter finished second in Group F behind defending champions Barcelona, who beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in the Ukraine.

Barca were in danger of making an early exit after Artem Milevskiy's header gave Dynamo a second-minute lead but Xavi rounded off a flowing move in the first half before Lionel Messi struck with a curling free-kick late on.

"The entire squad put in an enormous effort - it was a terrible group and we had to overcome a lot," said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. "We reacted well to going behind and after the Dynamo goal they hardly got past the middle of the pitch."

An ankle injury to Messi took some of the gloss off the win and the striker is now a doubt for Saturday's match with Espanyol.

Former Tottenham boss Christian Gross got off to a dream start as manager of Stuttgart as his side beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 in Group G to leapfrog the Romanians into the knockout phase.

Stuttgart raced into a stunning 3-0 lead after just 11 minutes but Gross, who replaced the sacked Markus Babbel on Sunday, said: "It was only one match and it wasn't perfect. The first 11, minutes were spectacular, we were aggressive. Then we went a bit quiet."

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