by Zlatan Ibrahimović in the 66th and 69th minutes. Two weeks later, Milan traveled to the Amsterdam Arena to face Ajax. The Dutch went ahead in the 23rd minute; Luis Suárez flicked the ball through Alessandro Nesta's legs and passed it to Mounir El Hamdaoui, who stopped the ball inside the goal area, turned around and shot into the net. Shortly after, Robinho missed a good chance for Milan, as he fired wide one-on-one against goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. The Rossoneri, however, managed to equalise eight minutes before half time through Ibrahimović, who chested a one-time pass by Clarence Seedorf and scored. Late in the second half, Milan nearly found the winning goal, but Kevin-Prince Boateng's angled drive was saved by Stekelenburg and the game ended 1–1. In the third game, on 19 October, Milan suffered a 2–0 defeat against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The hosts took the lead in the 13th minute with a free-kick by Cristiano Ronaldo and scored again a minute later, as a shot by Mesut Özil was accidentally deflected by Daniele Bonera into his own net. The two sides met again two weeks later at the San Siro and again it was Real Madrid who took the lead, thanks to a goal by Gonzalo Higuaín in the late stages of the first half. Milan, however, managed to equalise through Filippo Inzaghi in the 68th minute. The 37-year-old striker, who had come on eight minutes earlier, headed in a cross by Zlatan Ibrahimović, after the ball was deflected by Real's goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Ten minutes later, Inzaghi scored again on a through ball by Gennaro Gattuso to put Milan ahead. But the Rossoneri were eventually denied victory, as Pedro León made it 2–2 in injury time. For the fifth game, Milan traveled to France to take on Auxerre on Tuesday, 23 November. After a scoreless first half, Milan went ahead in the 64th minutes through Zlatan Ibrahimović, with a powerful strike from the edge of the penalty area. In injury time, Ronaldinho, who had come on a few minutes earlier, made it 2–0, following a pass from Robinho. With Real Madrid beating Ajax in Amsterdam, Milan secured a spot in the knockout stage of the competition. In the sixth and last game of the group stage two weeks later, Milan suffered a harmless 2–0 home defeat against Ajax, with second half-goals by Demy de