Champions League Knockout Rounds: The Kayoed

By: chris | March 6th, 2008

Tuesday

Sevilla 3 – Fenerbahce 2: And the Turks go through on penalties. So who had Deivid as an MVP candidate for the Champions League thus far? The lone goal in an ultimately deciding shock upset of Inter and then brought two home for Fenerbahce to allow the game to pass on to the penalties. Regardless of your loyalties, Sevilla probably should’ve been everyones second team (if not first) just for Antonio Puerta. So this is less than ideal, but a job well done for the Turks.

Milan 0 – Arsenal 2: Well it seems as if Cesc is starting to earn himself a little bit of a legendary status at the ripe old age of 20. Going up against Milan’s fine wine at the San Siro in European action is an unenviable task, but his late game winner and 90 minute contributions sealed the victory for the Gunners. Wonder what his pricetag would be now? 40m? 45m?

ManUtd 1 – Lyon 0: That thing which isn’t a curse but is getting damn close has plagued OL once again as they’re sent home to recharge next year for another shot at European glory. (Maybe if they stop thinking about it? That sometimes help.) ManU got their goal from Cristiano Ronaldo, but you knew that going in.

Barcelona 1 – Celtic 0: This was always going to be a steep uphill climb for Celtic after the first leg’s loss. Not many teams can go to Camp Nou and take home a 2 goal win. The news now, of course, is that Lionel Messi will be spending the next 6 weeks on the sideline with a torn leg muscle. So if any of these other teams are going to draw Barca, now is the time.

Wednesday

Chelsea 3 – Olympiakos 0: Well, that’s more like it, yeah? The game was well and over just after the stroke of halftime when Salomon Kalou slotted in the third goal of the game and sent all of the Greek fans (with Greek surnames, of course), back home. Avram can concentrate on the domestic scene for now, but in another few weeks it’ll be back to the battle.

Porto 1 – Schalke 0 (Schalke through on pks): Chances are you thought the game was over in the 85th minute when Porto went down to 10 men. Wrong. Lisandro Lopez provided some late game heroics to send the game to extra time, and eventually penalties. Unfortunately for Porto, the hero torch was passed to Manuel Neuer, who saved a Ricky Q 1v1 effort and then two penos to keep the Champions League slightly Germanized.

Real Madrid 1 – Roma 2: The Curse of the First Knockout Rounds is still running strong in Madrid, this being the fourth year in a row Real has been unceremoniously bounced before the quarters. Moreover, this is 5 losses in their last 7 games. Bernd must be uncomfortable. Hell, Fabio won the title and was still canned. Roma, on the other hand, is getting back to their early season form and confidence can be nothing but sky high after taking both legs against Real.

And of course, the Liverpool – Inter second leg will take place next Wednesday because the Premiership is WAY more important than the Champions League. (Absurd.)

The teams remaining for the draw minus next week’s winner:

Fenerbahce
ManUtd
Barcelona
Roma
Arsenal
Schalke
Chelsea

And any team can face any team from here on out, so it’ll be a free-for-all on March 14th when the draw occurs.