Champions league 2014/15 last 16 match reviews
Paris St-Germain vs Chelsea
First leg:
Chelsea will feel very lucky to come away with a point against a determined PSG side. The French champion's attack caused Chelsea to be on the back-foot and defend for most of the first half (something which they are often used to in big games). Cavani was a menace for the Chelsea back four, creating space on the left wing which was left by Ivanovic trying to expose the PSG back-line. Two ironic things happened when Chelsea scored. One, it was strange that in Europe's third best team that three defenders combined for a well-worked goal. Two, their forwards weren't sharp enough in preparation for the return of Champions league football. Blase Matuidi and Edison Cavani were by far the best players of the game and combined on 54 minutes for the equaliser. Cavani has been vital for PSG during this season's Champions league and showed his much-improved work ethic. Both teams will feel that the real contest will be at Stamford Bridge after a quite unexciting game that only had a few moments of pure quality.
FACT: Branislav Ivanovic scored his first European goal since his winner in the Europa league final against Benfica last season.
Second leg:
Chelsea underperformed against French champions PSG, as the game finished 2-2. Chelsea were subsequently knocked out of the tournament on the away goals rule and were a shadow of their decent performance at the Parc des Princes. Ex-Chelsea player David Luiz received heavy media criticism for going against his pre-match statement that he wouldn't celebrate if he scored against the team he won the Champions league with. The Brazilian scored in the 86th minute after Gary Cahill's 81th minute goal. Hazard scored a 96th minute penalty after Thiago Silva's handball, but the experienced defender redeemed himself by scoring in the 114th minute to win the tie for PSG and to bury the demons of last season's quarter-final exit to Chelsea. However, the biggest story from this game was one of an ugly nature. Ibrahimovic was sent off after 30 minutes for a tackle on Oscar but every outfield player for Chelsea ran towards the referee, causing outrage from PSG players and fans on social media. Like Ibrahimovic said, it was like a bunch of babies surrounding the Swedish forward. I'm sure he'll be okay with 180,000 Euros for getting through to the Champions league quarter-finals.
FACT: Ibrahimovic has received four red cards in the Champions league, the joint-highest with Edgar Davids.
Manchester City vs Barcelona
First leg:
Luis Suarez claimed a 2-1 win for the Catalan club in his first return to England since a £75 million move from Liverpool in the summer. His first goal ,scored after 13 minutes, could be considered lucky, having bounced off Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, after Messi crossed into the penalty area. City don't really create any flowing football that they had in their previous game (5-0 battering of Newcastle at the Etihad) and were then 2-0 down after half an hour thanks to another Suarez goal. He was often the villain of the Premier league during his time at Liverpool but there is no doubt that he deserves a huge price tag of £75 million to reflect his abilities. City grew into the game in the second half and Aguero give them some hope after scoring on 69 minutes. They seemed to threaten Barcelona after the goal but fell short when Clichy was sent off for a clumsy challenge on Dani Alves for a second bookable offence. The moment that made headlines was when Joe Hart saved Lionel Messi's 93rd minute penalty after a tired Zabaleta fouled his international team-mate. Messi panicked and headed wide with the follow up, meaning that City have hope going into the second leg.
FACT: Sergio Aguero has scored 11 goals in his last 10 Champions league games.
Second leg:
Manchester City crashed out of the Champions league to Barcelona (3-1 on aggregate) and a 1-0 win in the second leg at the Camp Nou. The score line didn't match the slick overpowering football that Barcelona's star Lionel Messi showed. In recent seasons, Messi has dipped off in globally accepted form (even though he is still world-class) but he displayed his attacking quality against City and showed football fans around the world that he's back to his best, after rumours of a bizarre world-record transfer away from the Catalan club. Joe Hart received high pride for his continuous last-ditch saves to keep City in the game (even Messi said he was brilliant). City didn't show much desire and were simply outclassed in the Camp Nou.
FACT: Joe Hart made the most saves by an English keeper in Champions league history.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid
First leg:
Bayer Leverkusen beat last season's finalists Atletico Madrid in a surprising 1-0 victory for the mid-table German side. The home side played well against a well-structured Madrid side and finished the game with 66% possession but committed 25 fouls. It was a smash and grab game in many aspects, with is common in first leg matches, as both sides looked for a slender advantage to take into the second leg. Nine players were booked and one player booked again to be dismissed on 75 minutes (Tiago for Atletico). Ultimately, Hakan Calhanoglu scored on 57 minutes after the Turkish international found the roof of the net from a great free-kick from team-mate Bellarabi. Atletico are not out yet but Bayer have every reason to get their hopes up before the second leg at the Vicente Calderon on 17th March.
FACT: 36 fouls were committed in the game, 25 by Bayer and 11 by Atletico.
Second leg:
Atletico Madrid advanced into the Champions league quarter-finals after taking winning the tie 3-2 on penalties. Mario Suarez scored on 27 minutes to make the tie a draw and both teams dug in to extra-time but couldn't separated. The unfortunate player to miss the vital penalty was Bayer striker Stefan Kiessling and was listed down with Calhanoglu and Toprak as the Bayer Leverkusen players to miss penalties. The German outfit looked to creep past last season's runners-up by doing their best with the possession they had at the Vicente Calderon but Atletico played much better than they did in Germany three weeks previously and just about deserved to go through into the next round.
FACT: Atletico had lost their last three European penalty shoot-outs.
Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund
First leg:
Juventus won a tight game against Dortmund after missing a few good chances to kill the tie. Carlos Tevez scored on 13th minutes, his first goal from a free-kick for Juventus. Five minutes later, Chellini slipped and Marco Reus punished the Italian by striking past Buffon to level the score. Álvaro Morata's cool 42nd minute strike boosted the Italian side, who could have walked away from the game with an even stronger advantage over the domestically-struggling Dortmund (if Carlos Tevez had scored a handful of second-half chances). This tie looks like has plenty more to offer and I'm sure it will deliver in the second meeting at Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park.
FACT: Juventus has only lost one European game at the redeveloped Juventus stadium.
Second leg:
Dortmund lost 3-0 to Juventus at the Signal Iduna Park and were knocked out 5-1 on aggregate. Before the game, 25,000 Dortmund fans in 'The Yellow Wall' unveiled a brilliant display that referred to their win over Juventus in the 1997 European Cup final. However, the German outfit didn't live up to the performance in the 1997 European final as they were dominated by Carlos Tevez, who scored a brace. Static defending didn't help Dortmund in their bid to overturn a 2-1 defeat at the Juventus stadium and to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions league. Tevez and co fairly advanced into the quarter-finals.
FACT: Carlos Tevez has now scored six Champions league goals this season. The last Juventus player to achieve this was David Trezeguet, in the 2005-06 season.
Schalke vs Real Madrid
First leg:
Ronaldo ended his three match goal drought as Real Madrid won 2-0 in Gelsenkirchen in the first of two games which Schalke fans won't be happy to watch for many reasons. Los Blancos did win comfortably in Germany against Di Matteo's side but didn't completely dominate the game. Schalke had eight shots and three shots on target, even with the loss of ex-Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to a thigh injury. Left-back Marcelo then scored on 79 minutes to wrap up the game in the champions favour. Its not all gloom for Schalke, who were missing a few key players from the starting XI, as they were solid defensively for long periods of the game. However, they will most likely not advance past Real Madrid into the quarter finals. No team would to be honest.
FACT: Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored 58 goals in 58 Champions league games.
Second leg:
Due winning the second leg 4-3, Schalke couldn't advance past the cup holders into the quarter finals as they lost 5-4 on aggregate. Real's star trio (Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale) were heavily criticised going into the game in the Spanish capital for poor goal scoring form (Gareth Bale had scored just one in his last eight La Liga games). Real were slow off the mark and conceded after 20 minutes but were level five minutes later thanks to Ballon D'or winner Ronaldo. Ex-Real striker Huntelaar then scored on 40 minutes but Ronaldo struck back just before half-time. Benzema scored to make it 3-2 to Los Blancos but Sane virtually drifted unmarked on the edge of the penalty area and curled home a fabulous finesse shot to make it three all on the night. On 84 minutes, Huntelaar got his second to really make Real sweat. However, no more goals came in the dying minutes and Real narrowly progressed through. Despite this, their fans weren't happy and booed their star-studded team at the final whistle.
FACT: Real Madrid advanced into their fifth consecutive Champions league quarter-final.
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich
First leg:
Shakhtar held out Bayern Munich in a game that was very different from what people had predicted before kick-off. The game was littered with fouls and this aided Shakhtar over the course of the game (as they only had 36% possession and one shot on target all game). Seven players were booked in total, with Xabi Alonso receiving two yellow cards and was sent off with 65 minutes gone. Thomas Muller threatened the Ukrainian side's goal multiple times, through decent link-up play with Arjen Robben, but Shakhtar did enough to hold out for a comfortable 0-0 draw on their behalf.
FACT: Xabi Alonso was sent off in his 100th Champions league game.
Second leg:
Bayern battered Shakhtar at the Allianz Arena in a 7-0 demolition of the Ukrainian side. Muller (brace), Boateng, Ribery, Badstuber, Lewandowski and Gotze all scored to see off any real threat to their Champions league progression. The German champions haven't lost at home in all competitions since losing 4-1 to real Madrid in last season's semi-final second leg and used this stat to their full advantage, having 79% possession and 13 shots on target. Bayern will hope for more threating opposition in the quarter-finals.
FACT: The fastest ever Champions league red card was awarded to Shakhtar's Olexandr Kucher after 2 minutes and 39 seconds.
Arsenal vs Monaco
First leg:
Arsenal face going out of the Champions league at the last 16 stage for another season as they lost 3-1 to Monaco at the Emirates stadium. There had been an in-depth look at the French club where Arsene Wenger used to manage and whilst the verdict had been that the club had been hit by FFP (Financial Fair Play), the club was turning towards youth and not towards expensive buys that would be sold off to save their wage budget. No-one for saw Monaco being 2-0 up after 53 minutes and even when Chamberlain scored on 91 minutes, the atmosphere around the ground was one of shame and defensive agony. Monaco then added a third on 93 minutes to leave Arsenal's hopes of getting to the quarter-finals in tatters. Even with a favourable draw, Arsenal can't grab the last 16 by neck and ease on past into the quarters-finals, which they haven't reached since 2010. The second leg is pointless as I don't see Arsenal scoring three goals and being tight at the back at the same time.
FACT: Oliver Giroud missed all of his six attempts from inside the penalty box. Berbatov scored with his only touch in the penalty box.
Second leg:
Arsenal couldn't overcome Monaco's first leg victory to advance to the quarter finals of the Champions league for the first time in five years. Although they won 2-0, thanks to a 36th minute goal from Oliver Giroud and a 79th minute rebound from Aaron Ramsey, they were again knocked out on away goals. Mesut Ozil came under criticism for swapping shirts at half-time, farther adding to his reputation as the scapegoat of the Gunners. Monaco were very defensive and didn't have a shot on target, a fact that angered Arsene Wenger in the post-match commentary. It seemed that Arsenal are stuck in a repetition of failure in the Champions league under Wenger and this is one of the reasons why I think Wenger should resign as manager and give someone else a chance to refresh Arsenal's squad and tactics.
FACT: Monaco hadn't conceded in four home Champions league games this season until Giroud scored the opener.
Basel vs FC Porto
First leg:
Referee Mark Clattenburg over saw a game that was largely one sided and a highly intense game between Basel and Porto. Nine players were booked and a Porto equaliser was ruled out before Danilo scored a late penalty to earn Porto an important away goal. Although Basel were not up to the pace of the game that had been set by Porto early on, demonstrated by having 37% possession and having one shot compared to Porto's fifteen, but did lead the game until the 79th minute. It just shows how teams are now focused on using possession, even when they don't have much of it. A 1-1 draw probably wasn't a fair result for both sides, as Basel had done well to lead with one chance and very little possession, were as Porto dominated long spells of the game and didn't accept defeat. Like PSG vs Chelsea, the second leg will provide a more cutting edge look at how these teams trutly shape up.
FACT: The last time Basel reached the quarter-finals of Europe's elite competition was in the 1973-74 season. They lost 6-5 on aggregate to Celtic.
Second leg:
The second leg of this tie looked to be a tight game in which both teams would have a wide catalogue of chances to progress through to the quarter-finals. This wasn't the case on the night as Porto swept Basel aside in a 4-0 victory and aided to their surprising but yet good Champions league run. Arsenal transfer target Jackson Martinez was ruled out with a groin injury that he suffered in Porto's last league game but Porto dominated without him and deservedly beat their Swiss opponents. The pick of the goals was Real Madrid loanee Casermio's 30 yard free-kick on 56 minutes. Although the remaining teams in the competition will be looking to draw Porto, they could still face a tough two legged affair against the Portuguese champions, who have gained momentum under Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui.
FACT: Porto reached the Champions league quarter-finals for the first time since 2009.
Teams progressing into the quarter-finals:
- PSG
- Barcelona
- Atletico Madrid
- Juventus
- Real Madrid
- Bayern Munich
- Monaco
- Porto
Quarter-finals matchups:
- PSG vs Barcelona
- Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid
- Porto vs Bayern Munich
- Juventus vs Monaco
Barcelona defeated Manchester City 3-1 on aggregate, ending English involvement in the Champions league (following Chelsea's and Arsenal's exits on away goals to PSG and Monaco respectively).
