And Then There Were Eight

Today's conclusion of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 means there are just 8 teams remaining in Europe's most prestigious club tournament. A quick recap of the Round of 16 and a look at what's to come:

BARCELONA 10 BAYER LEVERKUSEN 2

Photo Credit: nationalturk.com

Lionel Messi scored 6 goals in the series highlighted by an historic 5-goal game in the second leg as Barcelona easily won both matches by scores of 3-1 and 7-1. Messi leads all scorers in the Champions League with 12 goals.

APOEL NICOSIA 1 LYON 1 - APOEL wins 4-3 on penalties

Photo Credit: ibnlive.in.com

Brazilian Gustavo Manduca scored the only goal in the second leg as the reigning Cypriot First Division champions won on penalties to advance to the Champions League Quarterfinals for the first time. No team has taken a longer road to reach the quarters this year than APOEL who played three rounds before they even reached the group stage. APOEL defeated Albanian Champions Skënderbeu Korçë, Slovakian Champions Slovan Bratislava and Polish Champions Wisła Kraków before winning Group G comprised of Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia), Porto (Portugal) and Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine). And now they've knocked out Lyon, a team that two years ago eliminated Real Madrid from the tournament.

BENFICA 4 ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG 3

Photo Credit: thestate.com

Benfica rallied from a 3-2 deficit at the end of the first leg scoring in stoppage time in both halves of the second leg to advance by an aggregate score of 4-3 over Zenit. 20 year old Nélson Oliveira, making his Champions League debut as a second half substitute, tallied the game winner in the 93rd minute.

AC MILAN 4 ARSENAL 3

Photo Credit: themalaysianinsider.com

Arsenal nearly rallied from a 4-0 hole scoring 3 times in the first half of the second leg, but the AC Milan defense held the rest of the way as they narrowly advanced to the quarterfinals. 

REAL MADRID 5 CSKA MOSCOW 2

Photo Credit: cbc.ca

The Russian powerhouse got a stoppage time equalizer at home in the first leg, but Cristiano Ronaldo and company would prove to have just too much firepower in the second. Ronaldo finished with 3 goals in the series including a second leg brace and is third behind Messi and Bayern Munich's Mario Gómez with 6 goals in the tournament.

BAYERN MUNICH 7 FC BASEL 1

Photo Credit: windsorstar.com

The Swiss Champs held serve at home taking a 1-0 lead back to Germany, but Mario Gómez scored 4 times as Bayern blew the doors off Basel in the second leg by a score of 7-0. Gómez, the leading scorer in the Bundesliga this season, is second behind Lionel Messi with 10 goals in the tournament.

CHELSEA 5 NAPOLI 4 (extra time)

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

What a turnaround for the Blues over the last week and a half or so. After dropping the first leg to Napoli 3-1 and firing manager André Villas-Boas, Chelsea has been on a tear winning their FA Cup match with Birmingham 2-0, their Premier League match with Stoke City 1-0, and now they're somehow in the Champions League quarterfinals following a 4-1 added time victory over Napoli. Didier Drogba set up Branislav Ivanović for the series clincher in the 105th minute.

MARSEILLES 2 INTERNAZIONALE 2 - MARSEILLES wins on away goals

Photo Credit: afp.com

Marseilles opened the series with a 1-0 win at home and then Brandão scored in stoppage time of the second leg rendering a late penalty from Giampaolo Pazzini meaningless as the 2010 Champs failed to reach the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.


So that's where we are right now: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Marseilles, APOEL Nicosia, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Chelsea and Benfica. The draw for the quarterfinals will take place on the 16th of March. Clubs from the same national association can be drawn against each other and the side drawn first play the first leg at home.