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On the second day of the Champions League round of 16, four more matches were played on Wednesday evening, with the hosts not having much success. In the clash between the recent tournament winners, "Barcelona" had to acknowledge the superiority of "Liverpool" at home, also failing to maintain a lead in the matches against "Valencia" and "Chelsea", with the games ending in draws with "Inter" and "Porto" respectively, while the matches between "Roma" and "Lyon" ended goalless.
In the most intriguing match of the day at the "Nou Camp" stadium, the defending champions "Barcelona" faced the 2005 tournament winners "Liverpool". The hosts started the match more successfully - in the 14th minute, after a pass from Gianluca Zambrotta, goalkeeper Pepe Reina was beaten with a header by Deco of the Catalan club.
Later, "Barcelona" had the opportunity to double their lead, but Javier Saviola missed the goal, and after Lionel Messi's pass into the penalty area, Deco's shot was saved by P. Reina. The saved minimal deficit allowed the visitors to bounce back - just before halftime, after a pass from Steve Finnan, Craig Bellamy's header beat Victor Valdes in the goal, making the result even.
In the second half, inspired by the equalizer, the "Liverpool" players began to play even more successfully, and although the home team's goalkeeper V.Valdes failed to save a penalty shot from the visitors' captain Steven Gerrard, later Dirk Kuyt's header missed the goal, and the match was decided by the "Liverpool" duo who had a pre-match dispute.
Last week, the British press was buzzing with reports of a clash between C.Bellamy and John Arne Riise in a training camp, but in the 74th minute, they helped snatch a victory for "Liverpool" - "Barcelona" goalkeeper V.Valdes initially saved D.Kuyt's attempt, but C.Bellamy rebounded the ball to J.A.Riise, who scored a powerful goal, leading the English club ahead. In the 87th minute, Deco was close to an equalizing goal with a shot after a penalty, but "Liverpool" withstood and took a significant step towards the quarterfinals.
In Milan, Italy's Serie A record holders Inter Milan and Spanish team Valencia clashed. The home team took the initiative from the start of the match and, after a misjudgment by Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, defender Roberto Ayala should have cleared the ball from the visitors' goal line, but soon after Zlatan Ibrahimovic's shot, the ball hit the Spanish team's post.
In the 29th minute, after a penalty shot by Luis Figo, S.Canizares saved Z.Ibrahimovic's header, but Esteban Cambiasso sent the ball into the goal after a second attempt. Towards the end of the first half, both teams had opportunities, but Inter's forward Hernan Crespo and Valencia's attacking leader David Villa lacked accuracy in front of goal.
In the middle of the second half, D. Villa managed to score - the Spanish national team player sent the ball into the top corner of the goal with a beautiful penalty shot, equalizing the score for Valencia. However, the result of 1-1 did not last long, as in the 76th minute, defender Maicon defeated S.Canizares with a precise shot after a through ball to Julio Cruz who appeared as a substitute.
However, the visitors did not give up and managed to equalize the score again with just four minutes left, when after a corner kick, the ball was cleared to the first to reach it, David Silva, who gave no chance to the home team's goalkeeper Julio Cesar. The match ended with a 2-2 score, giving Valencia a two-goal advantage ahead of the second leg.
The match between "Porto" and London's "Chelsea" in Portugal was also evenly matched. The start of the match for the English visitors turned tragic, as in the 10th minute, team captain John Terry had to leave the field due to injury, and shortly after, Raul Meireles' long-range shot, deflected by Frank Lampard, changed direction slightly and flew into Petr Cech's goal.
But the joy at the "Dragao" stadium lasted just four minutes - A. Robben, who replaced J. Terry, provided a precise pass to Andriy Shevchenko, and the Ukrainian equalized with a precise shot into the far corner. Porto did not intend to give up and were close to scoring twice in the first half, but Petar Cech stopped Lisandro Lopez's breakthrough, and Ricardo Quaresma's long shot was saved by the crossbar.
After the break, the game on the field was more balanced, but neither team created many dangerous chances for a while, and it was only in the 77th minute that D. Drogba found a gap in the opponents' defense and scored a goal with a sharp shot into the net. In additional time, the hosts could have snatched the victory, but L.Lopez, one-on-one with P.Cech, failed to beat him, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
No goals were scored in Roma, where the local club faced the multiple French champions Lyon, with the match being marked more by the abundance of yellow cards (11 shown) than dangerous attacks.
The second legs of the Champions League round of 16 matches will take place on March 6 and 7, two weeks from now.
Statistics of Wednesday's round of 16 matches
1 - 2
14' [1 - 0] Deco
43' [1 - 1] Craig Bellamy
74' [1 - 2] John Arne Riise
2 - 2
29' [1 - 0] Esteban Cambiasso
64' [1 - 1] David Villa
76' [2 - 1] Maicon
86' [2 - 2] David Silva
0 - 0
1 - 1
12' [1 - 0] Raul Meireles
16' [1 - 1] Andriy Shevchenko
