Photo: Wembley National Stadium Ltd
The Champions League has reached the quarter final stage with Barcelona, Galatasaray, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Juventus, Malaga and Bayern Munich all through and awaiting the forthcoming draw.
Recent signings Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder played key roles as Galatasaray beat Schalke 3-2 in a thrilling second leg in Germany, to ensure that the Turkish Champions booked their place at this stage of the tournament for the first time since 2001. Elsewhere Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo experienced an emotional return to Old Trafford and scored the winner to eliminate his former club Manchester United 3-2, whilst last year’s beaten finalists Bayern Munich squeezed through despite losing 2-0 at home in the second leg against Arsenal, the German giants progressing on away goals in a 3-3 aggregate draw.
A Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona created history as their stunning 4-0 display against Milan helped them to become the first side to overturn a first leg deficit without needing an away goal. Elsewhere in Europe, Italian Champions Juventus showed their quality with a ruthless demolition of Scottish champions Celtic by an aggregate score of 5-0 to take their place in the last eight.
UEFA will make the draw for the quarter finals on Friday 15th March in Nyon, with the fixtures being played on the 2nd and 3rd of April for the first legs, and the return games taking place a week later on the 9th and 10th of April.
