UEFA Champions League roundup: Eight teams from five countries progress but Britain not so great

No English or Scottish side make it through to the quarter-finals

KARACHI: With the Champions League round-of-16 ending on Wednesday, eight teams from five countries booked their place in the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite competition.

Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Monaco, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Real Madrid progressed, while the final three English teams — Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City — crashed out, leaving no English representation in the Champions League quarter-finals for the second time in three years.

The draws for the quarter-finals would be announced on Friday, with the matches taking place on April 14/15 and April 21/22. We take a look at the matches and the aggregate scores that decided which teams will be in the draw.

 

Barcelona v Manchester City (Barca win 3-1)

The Catalans went into the second leg with a 2-1 lead courtesy of a Luis Suarez brace at the Etihad Stadium in February and needed to just hold on to qualify for the last eight. However, in typical fashion Barcelona did more than just holding on and dominated for long periods of the match, registering 23 shots with 11 on target.

Had it not been for City keeper Joe Hart, Barca would have scored three or four goals more as Lionel Messi, Suarez and Neymar ran amok. It was the Argentine who set up Ivan Rakitic in the 31st minute to increase Barca’s stranglehold on the tie.

Sergio Aguero got a chance to get his side back in the contest in the 78th minute as the Argentine went down after a clumsy challenge by Gerard Pique but the striker’s resulting penalty was saved by Barca keeper Marc-André ter Stegen to his right.

The match ended without any additional drama, bar saves by Hart, and saw the four-time European champions comfortably qualify for the last-eight for the eight season running.

 

Borussia Dortmund v Juventus (Juve win 5-1)

Reigning Italian champions dominated the 2013 Champions League finalists, winning the away match 3-0 after a 2-1 win in Turin, to finally improve their performance in Europe.

Carlos Tevez opened the scoring with a sensational 30-yard strike before teeing up Alvaro Morata in the 70th minute to take the contest out of the Germans’ reach. He further piled misery on the home side with his 23rd goal of the campaign with a near post finish.

 

Atletico Madrid v Bayer Leverkusen (1-1, Atletico win 3-2 penalties)

The reigning Spanish champions came into the contest trailing 1-0 to Bayer Leverkusen. A 27th minute deflected strike from Mario Suarez ensured that the tie went the full distance and required penalties as both teams failed to score the decisive goal needed to secure a passage into the quarter-finals.

The penalty-shootout saw five missed penalties as Raul Garcia, Hakan Calhanoglu, Omer Toprak, Koke and Stefan Kiessling all shot off-target, but Antoine Griezmann, Simon Rofles, Mario Suarez, Gonzalo Castro and Fernando Torres converted to end the tie 3-2 in Atletico’s favour.

 

Monaco v Arsenal (3-3, Monaco through on away goals)

The Gunners were in for the Herculean task of overturning a 3-1 deficit against Monaco but came tantalisingly close as goals from Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey gave Arsene Wengers’ side a glimmer of hope.

With the game deadlocked at 3-3 on aggregate, Monaco did everything in their power — in addition to the assistance provided by the referee in the first half — to restrict the Gunners and were successful in curtailing their romp and went through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004.

 

Bayern Munich v Shakhtar Donetsk (Bayern win 7-0)

Reigning German Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, had a memorable outing against Shakhtar, humiliating them 7-0.

Six different players from Pep Guardiola’s side scored, with Thomas Muller scoring a brace, as Bayern dominated their Ukrainian opposition with ease.

 

Chelsea v PSG (3-3, PSG through on away goals)

In a see-saw encounter, PSG came out on top as a last-gasp goal by skipper Thiago Silva ensured that the French champions go through on the away goals rule, despite Zlatan Ibrahimovic receiving a harsh red card in the first half.

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill opened the scoring late on to give Chelsea the lead but former Blues man David Luiz dramatically equalised in the 86^th minute to take the game into extra-time.

Eden Hazard scored from the spot in the 96th minute but Chelsea were denied by Silva’s superb looping header.

 

FC Porto v Basel (Porto win 5-1)

With the first leg ending in a 1-1 stalemate, a one-goal win would have been enough to ensure that Porto through to the quarter-finals but the Portuguese outfit had other ideas as they slotted four past Basel. Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar got their names on the scoring sheet against Swiss side Basel.

 

Real Madrid v Schalke (Real win 5-4)

Los Blancos’ 2-0 victory in the first leg came to the rescue of the defending champions as Roberto di Matteo’s Schalke ran wild at the Santiago Bernabéu, scoring four but also conceding three to end the game 4-3, but bowing out on a 5-4 aggregate score.

Former Real striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a brace for Schalke, while Christian Fuchs and Leroy Sane scored one each to come as close to progressing the quarter-finals as possible. A brace from Ronaldo — who twice equalised — and a goal from Karim Benzema ensured that Real survive the German onslaught and continue their hopes of being the first team to successfully defend the Champions League title.

 

 

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