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On Tuesday, three second leg matches were played in the UEFA Champions League, which were won by the home teams, securing their place in the tournament and advancing to the quarter-finals. A remarkable evening of football saw victories celebrated by the clubs "Milan", "Chelsea", and "Lyon", who respectively defeated the teams of "Man Utd", "Barcelona", and "Werder". Meanwhile, the postponed match between "Inter" and "Porto" will be played in a week.
The Italian champions "Milan" won for the second time in a row at their home "San Siro" stadium after H.Crespo's goal in the second half resulting in a 1-0 victory against "Man Utd" and securing their place in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year.
A goal fiesta was seen by the spectators gathered at Lyon's "Gerland" stadium - although "Lyon" already had a three-goal advantage from the first leg against "Werder", within the first 30 minutes the French champions scored three times and led 6-0 on aggregate.
Despite the Germans managing to lessen the gap twice, "Lyon" scored four more goals in the second half and won with an unusual 7-2 result. S.Wiltord scored three goals for the French team.
A true football spectacle took place in London, where "Chelsea" tried to overturn a one-goal deficit from the match against "Barcelona". The hosts surged ahead in the 8th minute when E.Gudjohnsen scored after a counterattack, and just 9 minutes later "Chelsea" led 2-0 after F.Lampard's goal.
But that was not the end of "Barca's" problems, as in the 19th minute D.Duff outran the goalkeeper V.Valdes and scored his team's third goal, seemingly burying the visitors' chances. However, the leaders of the Spanish league showed character and, midway through the half, Ronaldinho's penalty revived hopes for the "Barcelona" team.
Just seven minutes before the end of the first half, everything turned upside down - the world's best player Ronaldinho showed why he is so acclaimed, and with a fantastic shot from the penalty area he beat one of Europe's most reliable goalkeepers P.Cech.
Before the break, J.Cole hit the crossbar, but the result remained unchanged, and both teams went to rest with the scoreboard showing 3-2.
In the second half, the game was similar to the first, with "Barca" controlling the ball more while "Chelsea" tried to counter-attack dangerously. The London team's goalkeeper P.Cech made several impressive saves - first blocking Iniesta's shot towards the crossbar, and then spectacularly catching C.Puyol's headed shot on the goal line.
However, just when it seemed that "Barcelona" would triumph, "Chelsea" earned a corner in the 76th minute and, as usual this season, the captain J.Terry headed in a goal. The hosts held on for the remaining time and celebrated a great victory against one of Europe's strongest teams.
Results of the Tuesday's quarter-finals: (Highlighted teams advance to the quarter-finals)
1 - 0 (First leg 1-0, aggregate 2-0) 62' [1 - 0] Hernan Crespo
4 - 2 (First leg 1-2, aggregate 5-4) 8' [1 - 0] Eidur Gudjohnsen 17' [2 - 0] Frank Lampard 19' [3 - 0] Damien Duff 27' [3 - 1] Ronaldinho (Penalty) 38' [3 - 2] Ronaldinho 76' [4 - 2] John Terry
7 - 2 (First leg 3-0, aggregate 10-2) 9' [1 - 0] Sylvain Wiltord 17' [2 - 0] Mickael Essien 30' [3 - 0] Mickael Essien 32' [3 - 1] Johan Micoud 55' [4 - 1] Sylvain Wiltord 58' [4 - 2] Valerien Ismael (Penalty) 61' [5 - 2] Florent Malouda 64' [6 - 2] Sylvain Wiltord 80' [7 - 2] Jeremy Berthold (Penalty)
