Juventus coach Fabio Capello raced to the tunnel screaming with delight after his team overturned a 1-0 deficit to knock Real Madrid out of the Champions League 2-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.
A second half strike from David Trezeguet took the game into extra-time and four minutes from the end Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta pounced on a loose ball to fire home the winner.
Capello is normally one of the most reserved coaches in Serie A but the win against his former club, which took Juventus into the quarterfinals, saw him wildly celebrating as he charged to the dressing room.
"It is never an easy business defeating Real Madrid and so that was a special feeling," Capello said, "I think it is the first time I have celebrated like that but now I've done it, I'd like to try it again."
Capello gave particular credit to Gianluca Pessotto, standing in for the injured Pavel Nedved on the left and Zalayeta who started in place of Trezeguet, who was returning from illness.
"They are important players for the team because they work hard and seriously in training so that when they are called upon they are always ready," he said.
Real coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo said there had been little to choose between the teams. "It was tight throughout and it was the kind of match that we could have won and gone through," he said.
Luxemburgo defended his decision to take off Zinedine Zidane late in the second half, leaving Real without the former Juve man who had been their main threat.
"Zidane had a problem at the start of the game and it got progressively worse but it was a tactical decision," said Luxemburgo who brought Guti on shortly before Trezeguet's goal.
Liverpool walks tall
Liverpool will take their place in the quarterfinals with pride, after a note-perfect second-leg performance against Bayer Leverkusen earned them a 6-2 aggregate victory.
"No one will underestimate Liverpool after a result like this," Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said after two goals from Luis Garcia and one from Milan Baros had given the English side a second 3-1 win.
Liverpool, the four-times European champions, were beaten by Bayer Leverkusen when they reached the quarterfinals in 2002.
This time, there was never any danger of them going out, as they delivered two first-rate performances against the Germans.
"We did everything right in this game," Benitez said. "We were very good in the first half and the goals just made it easier."
Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard said the result may well have taken a few people by surprise.
"People might have thought we would play for a draw but we knew we could punish them on the counter-attack," Gerrard said. "This was our best away performance for a while."
Leverkusen coach Klaus Augenthaler, who congratulated Liverpool for making it through, was left to bemoan his bad luck at being without five first-team regulars through injury and suspension.
"Over the two games Liverpool fully deserved to go through," Augenthaler said.
"We missed two chances in the first half and as soon as they scored their first goal it was over," he said.
Bayern squeezes through
Bayern Munich squeezed through to the quarterfinals 3-2 on aggregate despite a 1-0 defeat by a frustrated Arsenal side at Highbury on Wednesday.
The four-times European champions had to endure a nervy finish after Thierry Henry's 66th-minute winner for the English side in the second leg of the first knockout round tie.
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