Whew! What a mouthful of a title on that one. Matchday One for the Round of Sixteen was pretty awesome. Some massive results have the English sides reeling, all but eliminated. Underdogs pulled off big results at home all over Europe, making Matchday Two very intriguing.
Holders Barcelona defeated Bayer Leverkusen on the road at the BayArena. Leverkusen came out with the intention of absorbing as much pressure as possible, conceding 75% possession, yet Alexis Sanchez ran down a Lionel Messi chip and slotted it past keeper Bernd Leno before the break. Life was briefly blown into the home side's sails when Michal Kadlec redirected Vedran Corluka's cross into the net, but Sanchez found the goal again, with Cesc Fabregas the provider for his double. Messi created his own chance at the death, sending Dani Alves through and burying his return. The second leg is March 7 at Camp Nou, Barcelona.
Lyon scraped out a win at home against Apoel Nicosia, the first side from Cyprus to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. Alexandre Lacazette gave the French side the winner in the 58' when his shot was deflected past Nicosia keeper Dionisis Chiotis. Nicosia showed zero interest in attacking away from home, managing just one shot the entire match, by Gustavo Manduca in the 88', and conceding 64% possession. The teams will meet again March 7 in Cyprus at the Neo GSP Stadium.
FC Zenit of St. Petersburg held on for the win late, defeating Benfica at Petrovski Stadium. The away side took an early lead when Maxi Pereira latched onto the rebound served up by Yuri Zhevnov after Oscar Cardozo's free kick at 20'. Zenit equalized just seven minutes later when Roman Shirokov side-footed Tomas Hubocan's cross past Benfica keeper Artur. The scoreline would remain silent for the next 45 minutes, despite good chances from both sides, until Semak backheeled an excellent ball from Kerzhakov via Bystrov. Zenit looked to have the game in hand until Cardozo is handed the ball by Zhevnov to put in his net two minutes from time. But Shirokov would net a brace as the initial scorer would prove a poor defender to allow an easy shot for the win. Return leg in Portugal March 6 at Estadio da Luz.
AC Milan thrashed Arsenal at the San Siro four nil, effectively killing the North London side's chances of any trophies this season. Thierry Henry made his final appearance for his former club as a halftime substitute for Theo Walcott. Kevin-Prince Boateng scored early, Robinho netted just before and just after the break, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic added to the tally from the spot late to further twist the knife. Arsenal have little chance to make a turnaround March 6 when they host Milan at the Emirates.
Real Madrid was unable to hold onto a lead in Moscow, giving away a late goal in stoppage time in freezing conditions at Luzhniki Stadium. PFC CSKA is Professional Football Club - Central Sport Club of the Army in Moscow, yet is no longer technically a section of the military's Central Sport Club, as it joined the professional league. The Ministry of Defense is a shareholder of CSKA though, and the CSC claims the PFC as their own, so there are clearly deep associations that go beyond strict legal definitions (surprise!). Portus Wernbloom ruined Cristiano Ronaldo's day when he cancelled out the fancy man's first half strike. Madrid hold serve March 14 at the Santiago Bernabeu, and will likely decimate the Russian side.
Chelsea held England's last hope of Champion's League glory, in a game I was able to catch live. Andre Villas Boas named a side tinged with rebellion, keeping the veterans on the bench in favor of his men. And things seemed to be working, with Juan Mata scoring first just before the half hour. But AVB man Raul Meireles ran away from Ezequiel Lavezzi just outside the 18, instead of closing him down like every other center midfielder on every team in the world from U7 up would do, giving the Italian a clear shot which he buried, of course, past the helpless Petr Cech. Edinson Cavani backed up his prematch shit-talking when he shouldered in a cross from Gokhan Inler in first half stoppage time. Chelsea would continue to control possession but failed to create many effective chances in the second half. Napoli scored again on the break, when David Luiz blundered his interception of a deep ball, Cavani squared the ball to Lavezzi and the game was over. Sturridge wasted a chance to pull within one when he failed to feed Mata, who would have been free on goal, but that was about as threatening as Chelsea was for the rest of the match. Chelsea hosts Napoli at Stamford Bridge March 14.
Swiss champions and giant killers FC Basel continued their storybook run when they defeated Bayern Munich at St. Jakob-Park on the back of a late goal by Valentin Stocker. Each side had their fair share of chances, with Basel hitting hitting the post twice, but conceded possession to the Bundesliga side. The teams will complete the fixture March 13 at Allianz Arena in Munich.
Internazionale failed to do much of anything in France, as Marseille seriously outshot and outpossessed the Milan club. Yet the Ligue 1 side could not put it in the net until Andre Ayew scored with the final touch of the game, heading in a corner past Julio Cesar in the 93'. Inter will be favored to overcome this deficit when the teams clash again March 13 at the San Siro, but I'm sure I won't be the only one rooting for Inter to continue their fall from grace.
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