Champions League round-up – Liverpool and Chelsea do their bit to annoy Platini

So, we now know who half of the Champions League quarter-finalists are going to be this season. Going into last night’s games there were some clear favourites to go through and some games that were less clear cut.

Biblical

Sporting Lisbon knew that it would take a miracle of Biblical proportions to overturn the 5-0 defeat they suffered against Bayern Munich in Portugal. Chelsea would have been slight favourites to hold on to their 1-0 lead from the game at Stamford Bridge as they travelled to Juventus. Liverpool were clear favourites at home to Real Madrid after they had won 1-0 at The Bernabeu and Panathinaikos against Villarreal was anyone’s guess although the Greek side held the upper hand after achieving a 1-1 draw in Spain.

So how did the games work out and will Michel Platini have to ‘get his knickers in a twist’ over the continuing dominance of English teams?

Well the answer to the above question was a fairly emphatic, yes. The first two of the four English clubs made fairly straightforward progress against the second best team in Italy and the second best team in Spain.

Bayern Munich

In Munich, Bayern just about scraped through against a Sporting side that are challenging for the title in Portugal. It is fairly clear that the Portuguese league is not one of the best!

Two from Podolski and goals from Schweinsteiger, Van Bommel, Klose, Muller and an own goal gave Bayern a remarkable 7-1 win on the night and a 12-1 aggregate victory. The humiliation for Sporting is huge and they must wish they had been knocked out in the group stage.

At this stage of Europe’s premier competition teams should not be beaten 12-1.

Chelsea

Claudio Ranieri had said that he wanted Juventus to strike early in the game to wipe out the deficit against Chelsea as quickly as possible. As it turned out he got his wish when Iaquinta opened the scoring in the 19th minute.

Just before half-time Drogba appeared to equalise for Chelsea from a free-kick but although the ball seemed to cross the line before Bouffon pulled the ball back, the officials did not give the goal. It mattered not as a couple of minutes later a deflected Lampard effort came back off the bar and Michael Essien followed up to give Chelsea a vital equaliser and away goal.

The game seemed to be over in the 71st minute when the excellent Chiellini made a ridiculous tackle on Drogba to earn his second yellow card. However, a Belletti handball gave Del Pierro the opportunity to confidently put Juventus back in the lead from the spot and the pressure was on Chelsea.

Seven minutes from the emd a flowing Chelsea move saw Drogba finish to put the tie beyond Juventus and give Chelsea a deserved draw on the night and win overall.

Liverpool

Anfield is a difficult place for any European side to go and it is hard enough trying to defend a lead let alone overturn a deficit. Real Madrid made it look every bit as hard as it could possibly be.

If it were not for the brilliance of Iker Casillas, Liverpool would have been 2-0 up inside four minutes. The Liverpool side simply out-played. out-fought, out-thought and absolutely battered their illustrious opponents.

Torres gave them an inevitable lead on 16 minutes and Gerrard added a second from the spot after Heinze had been unfairly penalised for a handball.

Things got no easier for Real in the second half as another from Gerrard and a further goal from Dossena gave Liverpool a 4-0 win on the night, 5-0 on aggregate. The whole thing was pretty embarrassing for a poor Real Madrid side.

Villarreal

In Athens, Villarreal came out on top in the end with goals from Ibagaza and Llorente giving them a 2-1 win after the 1-1 draw in Spain. The best team just about went through.

What can we expect from tonight’s games?

Barcelona will be expected to qualify comfortably after they managed a 1-1 draw at Lyon. Other than that, the games tonight are very difficult to call. Porto hold the advantage over Atletico Madrid after earning a 2-2 draw in Spain and Arsenal will be hopeful of defending their 1-0 lead in Rome. Manchester United and Inter will both fancy their chances after the 0-0 draw at The San Siro.

Confidently (?)

So the quarter-finals await Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool and Villarreal and I confidently (?) predict that they will be joined by Barcelona, Porto, Manchester United and Arsenal.