Champions League round-up: Liverpool, Chelsea and Bayern victorious
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| Yossi Benayoun 82 |
Liverpool claimed a precious 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League's first knockout round at the Bernabéu.
The build-up to the match, which is the first encounter between both clubs since the English side won the 1981 European Cup final, had been overshadowed by speculation surrounding the future of Reds manager Rafa Benítez, with some reports suggesting his days in the club could be numbered.
With Steven Gerrard starting on the bench in his first match back following injury, Liverpool looked far from threatening themselves, although Iker Casillas pulled off a fine save to deny Fernando Torres on 20 minutes.
The Spanish champions thought they had scored the opener in the 29th minute when Gonzalo Higuaín headed home a Sergio Ramos knock-down from a corner, only to be rightly ruled out for offside.
The last action of the first-half saw Xabi Alonso come close when he spotted Casillas off his line and tried an audacious shot from inside his own half. The Spanish international is famous for such effrontery, twice scoring a similar goal against Luton and Newcastle, but this time Casillas had to scramble back to push the effort over the crossbar.
Arjen Robben created Real's best effort with a fierce drive that went through the fingertips of Pepe Reina in the 71st minute but flew over the crossbar.
A goalless draw appeared to be on the cards until Fabio Aurelio curled in a 82nd-minute free-kick that Yossi Benayoun headed past Casillas from six yards.
Chelsea will take a slender one-goal advantage to take to Turin after Didier Drogba ended a two-month goal drought to clinch the 1-0 win over Juventus at Stamford Bridge.
The match saw Juve boss Claudio Ranieri make an emotional return to the Bridge almost five years after he was sacked by Roman Abramovich in 2004. But Chelsea fans still have a lot of affection for the Italian coach and Ranieri responded the warm reception by applauding all sides of the ground.
Chelsea dominated much of the first half and took the lead after 12 minutes when Drogba lashed home from an intelligent Salomon Kalou pass.
Drogba should have made it two four minutes later when Frank Lampard’s corner presented him with a free header but the Ivorian put it wide from close range.
Juventus did manage a worthy opening with Alessandro Del Piero trying to find the corner with an angled drive that was tipped round the post by Petr Čech.
Drogba was a constant menace throughout the evening and he almost scored his second of the night when he got ahead of Nicola Legrottaglie to head a cross from José Bosingwa but was just off target.
Juventus applied more pressure in the closing stages to net a potentially decisive away goal, but the Blues held on for victory.
Bayern Munich were the big winners of the night as they hammered Sporting Lisbon 5-0 in Portugal to put one foot in the last eight of the Champions League.
Sporting dominated play for the first 41 minutes before fell behind when Franck Ribéry intercepted a stray pass in midfield and ran towards goal, beat defenders Tonel and Ânderson Polga before clinically shooting past keeper Tiago.
Bayern doubled the lead on 57 minutes after Luca Toni's glancing header from a Massimo Oddo corner in the 57th landed conveniently for Miroslav Klose, who scored off his thigh at the far post.
Ribéry added a third from the spot-kick after Philipp Lahm was brought down by a reckless Fabio Rochemback challenge in the 63rd minute.
Italian striker Toni then netted twice in the last six minutes to complete a miserable night for the hosts.
At El Madrigal, Giuseppe Rossi equalised from the penalty spot for Villarreal to rescue a 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos.
The hosts dominated possession for almost the entire match but nearly fell behind when goalkeeper Diego López stepped back into the goal after catching a Giorgos Karagounis free-kick. Replays suggested the Spanish goalkeeper may have been behind the goal-line when he caught the ball but the evidence was not conclusive.
Panathinaikos, which last reached the Champions League quarterfinals in 2002, finally broke the deadlock on 59 minutes when Karagounis sent a looping shot from 25 yards that tipped off the hand of López before bouncing into the net off the crossbar.
Manuel Pellegrini immediately changed things by bringing on Nihat Kahveci and Robert Pires, with the latter winning his side a penalty soon afterwards after he fouled by Jakub Wawrzyniak in the 67th minute.
Young Italian striker Rossi stepped up to send goalkeeper Mario Galinović the wrong way to level the scores.
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The build-up to the match, which is the first encounter between both clubs since the English side won the 1981 European Cup final, had been overshadowed by speculation surrounding the future of Reds manager Rafa Benítez, with some reports suggesting his days in the club could be numbered.
With Steven Gerrard starting on the bench in his first match back following injury, Liverpool looked far from threatening themselves, although Iker Casillas pulled off a fine save to deny Fernando Torres on 20 minutes.
The Spanish champions thought they had scored the opener in the 29th minute when Gonzalo Higuaín headed home a Sergio Ramos knock-down from a corner, only to be rightly ruled out for offside.
The last action of the first-half saw Xabi Alonso come close when he spotted Casillas off his line and tried an audacious shot from inside his own half. The Spanish international is famous for such effrontery, twice scoring a similar goal against Luton and Newcastle, but this time Casillas had to scramble back to push the effort over the crossbar.
Arjen Robben created Real's best effort with a fierce drive that went through the fingertips of Pepe Reina in the 71st minute but flew over the crossbar.
A goalless draw appeared to be on the cards until Fabio Aurelio curled in a 82nd-minute free-kick that Yossi Benayoun headed past Casillas from six yards.
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| Didier Drogba 12 |
Chelsea will take a slender one-goal advantage to take to Turin after Didier Drogba ended a two-month goal drought to clinch the 1-0 win over Juventus at Stamford Bridge.
The match saw Juve boss Claudio Ranieri make an emotional return to the Bridge almost five years after he was sacked by Roman Abramovich in 2004. But Chelsea fans still have a lot of affection for the Italian coach and Ranieri responded the warm reception by applauding all sides of the ground.
Chelsea dominated much of the first half and took the lead after 12 minutes when Drogba lashed home from an intelligent Salomon Kalou pass.
Drogba should have made it two four minutes later when Frank Lampard’s corner presented him with a free header but the Ivorian put it wide from close range.
Juventus did manage a worthy opening with Alessandro Del Piero trying to find the corner with an angled drive that was tipped round the post by Petr Čech.
Drogba was a constant menace throughout the evening and he almost scored his second of the night when he got ahead of Nicola Legrottaglie to head a cross from José Bosingwa but was just off target.
Juventus applied more pressure in the closing stages to net a potentially decisive away goal, but the Blues held on for victory.
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| Franck Ribéry 42 | ||||||||
| Miroslav Klose 57 | ||||||||
| Franck Ribéry(pen) 63 | ||||||||
| Luca Toni 84 | ||||||||
| Luca Toni 90 |
Bayern Munich were the big winners of the night as they hammered Sporting Lisbon 5-0 in Portugal to put one foot in the last eight of the Champions League.
Sporting dominated play for the first 41 minutes before fell behind when Franck Ribéry intercepted a stray pass in midfield and ran towards goal, beat defenders Tonel and Ânderson Polga before clinically shooting past keeper Tiago.
Bayern doubled the lead on 57 minutes after Luca Toni's glancing header from a Massimo Oddo corner in the 57th landed conveniently for Miroslav Klose, who scored off his thigh at the far post.
Ribéry added a third from the spot-kick after Philipp Lahm was brought down by a reckless Fabio Rochemback challenge in the 63rd minute.
Italian striker Toni then netted twice in the last six minutes to complete a miserable night for the hosts.
| 1 - 1 |
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| Giuseppe Rossi(pen) 67 | Giorgos Karagounis 59 |
At El Madrigal, Giuseppe Rossi equalised from the penalty spot for Villarreal to rescue a 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos.
The hosts dominated possession for almost the entire match but nearly fell behind when goalkeeper Diego López stepped back into the goal after catching a Giorgos Karagounis free-kick. Replays suggested the Spanish goalkeeper may have been behind the goal-line when he caught the ball but the evidence was not conclusive.
Panathinaikos, which last reached the Champions League quarterfinals in 2002, finally broke the deadlock on 59 minutes when Karagounis sent a looping shot from 25 yards that tipped off the hand of López before bouncing into the net off the crossbar.
Manuel Pellegrini immediately changed things by bringing on Nihat Kahveci and Robert Pires, with the latter winning his side a penalty soon afterwards after he fouled by Jakub Wawrzyniak in the 67th minute.
Young Italian striker Rossi stepped up to send goalkeeper Mario Galinović the wrong way to level the scores.
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