Sergio Aguero scored a hat trick for Manchester City against 10-man Bayern Munich to earn what might prove to be a vital victory, while Chelsea secured their passage by thrashing Schalke in Germany.
Lionel Messi scored a hat trick, and in the process passed Raul to become the outright all-time leading Champions League goalscorer on 74, as Barcelona cruised past APOEL, and PSG got the better of Ajax.
Athletic Bilbao won at Shakhtar Donetsk while Sporting eventually beat Maribor 3-1 after a lengthy delay following a floodlight failure.
Manchester City were given an early boost at home to Bayern Munich when Medhi Benatia was sent off after bringing down Sergio Aguero in the area, and the Argentine picked himself up to fire home the opener from the spot.
But it all went wrong for City as they conceded twice just before the break to Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski.
Manuel Pellegrini's side offered little after the break but out of nothing Aguero turned defeat into victory as he burst through in the 85th and the 91st minutes to complete his treble and send the home fans into a frenzy with a 3-2 win.
Earlier, Vasili Berezutski kept CSKA Moscow's Champions League campaign alive with a last-gasp equaliser against Roma to earn a 1-1 draw.
Francesco Totti, the Champions League's oldest ever goalscorer, netted his second goal of the current campaign just before half-time to give Rudi Garcia's side the lead in the Russian capital.
A defeat would have seen CSKA eliminated, but Berezutski levelled to make it 1-1 with the last kick of the game to deny Roma the chance of qualifying prior to their final group game at home to Manchester City on Dec. 10, which will now be decisive.
It means Roma, CSKA and City go into the final group game level on five points. A win for City in Rome will be enough as long as CSKA do not win in Munich, as will a 1-1 draw as long as CSKA lose their match.
Lionel Messi became the record Champions League goalscorer and Luis Suarez opened his account for Barcelona as the Catalan giants cruised to a 4-0 win over APOEL Nicosia.
Suarez put Barca ahead with his first goal for the club since his 64 million-pound summer move from Liverpool before Messi took centre-stage with a hat trick -- all with his less-favoured right foot.
The first of those saw him break former Real Madrid striker Raul's tally of 71 to make the Argentina superstar the leading scorer in the competition's history.
Paris Saint-Germain maintained their edge over Barcelona at the top of Group F with a comfortable 3-1 win over Ajax at the Parc des Princes.
Edinson Cavani opened and completed the scoring with Ajax's Davy Klaassen making things interesting midway through the second half, cancelling out the Uruguayan's opener before Zlatan Ibrahimovic restored PSG's lead.
Roberto Di Matteo played down the talk of a revenge mission as Chelsea visited Gelsenkirchen to take on his Schalke side, but it was embarrassment that greeted the Italian as his former side eased into the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 5-0 win.
John Terry scored first before Willian added a second and, when Jan Kirchhoff headed in an own goal two minutes before the break, the writing was on the wall.
Chelsea took their foot off the gas during times in the second half but switched on and decided to go for the kill with 15 minutes remaining, as substitutes Didier Drogba and Ramires got in on the goalscoring act.
Sporting Lisbon ended Maribor's Champions League hopes with a 3-1 win that was delayed by 50 minutes due to floodlight failure at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
The home side led 2-1 at half-time after Carlos Mane had put them ahead and a stunner from Nani doubled the lead before a Jefferson Nascimento own goal closed the gap.
The lights went out during the interval causing a lengthy delay and when play resumed, Islam Slimani grabbed a third to seal the win.
The result leaves Sporting second in Group G, two points ahead of Schalke going into their closing fixture against group winners Chelsea and they will need a point at Stamford Bridge to progress.
Hector Herrera helped ease Porto into pole position to claim top spot in Group H with a 3-0 victory over BATE Borisov.
Herrera fired the visitors ahead after 56 minutes at the Borisov Arena and set up captain Jackson Martinez and then substitute Cristian Tello to secure a fourth victory in five attempts and leave the Portuguese side on 13 points with just one game to play.
Mikel San Jose kept Athletic Bilbao's European hopes alive by ending Shakhtar Donetsk's chances of topping Champions League Group H with a 1-0 victory.
San Jose's 68th-minute strike at the Arena Lviv secured a win for the Spaniards and that, coupled with leaders Porto's 3-0 victory in Borisov, ensured the Portuguese side will head the group with the Ukrainians second no matter what happens when the two sides meet at the Estadio do Dragao in the final round of fixtures.