Chelsea, AC Milan and Lyon reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Tuesday.
John Terry's 76th-minute header lifted English leader Chelsea to a 4-2 victory over FC Barcelona, the Spanish league leader. Chelsea advanced 5-4 on aggregate despite losing to Barcelona 2-1 in Spain two weeks ago.
"It's great to beat a side like that," Terry said. "We're into the next round, but there's still a long way to go in the competition. But the main thing is we are there."
PHOTO: EPA
"We had control of play throughout," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "It was a victory of patience and attention ... we never took risks. Certainly I expected more pressure from [Manchester] United."
Three-time defending French champion Lyon demolished Werder Bremen 7-2, advancing 10-2. Sylvain Wiltord scored a hat trick, Michael Essien added two more goals and French international Florent Malouda and defender Jeremy Berthod added one each to complete the rout.
Four more games are on tap for Wednesday, with the winners reaching the quarterfinals.
Juventus trails nine-time champion Real Madrid 1-0 playing in Turin; Bayern Munich has a 3-1 lead going to Arsenal; Liverpool leads Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 going into the second-leg match in Germany; and host Monaco trails PSV Eindhoven 1-0.
In the remaining round of 16 game, Porto plays at Inter Milan on March 15. The two teams drew 1-1 in Portugal.
The Champions League quarterfinals are April 5-6 and April 12-13. The semifinals are April 26-27 and May 3-4, and the final is set for May 25 in Istanbul, Turkey.
At London, Chelsea took a 3-0 lead after only 19 minutes on goals by Eidur Gudjohnsen, Frank Lampard and Damien Duff.
But Ronaldinho rallied Barcelona with two goals -- the second being enough to advance Barcelona on the away-goals rule at the time. That set the stage for Terry's deciding header from about 12 meters (yards).
Ronaldinho made it 3-1 on a penalty in the 27th after Paulo Ferreira was called for a hand ball in the box by referee Pierluigi Collina. Ronaldinho made it 3-2 in the 38th, scoring on an 18m drive that caught goalkeeper Peter Cech flatfooted.
Chelsea has already won the English League Cup and leads the Premier League by eight points over Manchester United in manager Jose Mourinho's quest to win three major titles for billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich.
"With a game like today, the game was changing faces every five minutes," Mourinho said. "There was no time to breathe. There was no time to enjoy the moment and you just had to try and react as best you could."
Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard declined to argue about the winning goal. Barca keeper Victor Valdes seemed to be blocked by Chelsea players from making the save.
"This is something the players saw," Rijkaard said. "After the game it's not necessary to talk about such things. The most important thing is we couldn't take what would have been a big step for Barcelona."
Rijkaard also got into a shouting match after the game with what appeared to be a Chelsea official.
At Milan, Crespo headed in a second-half goal in AC Milan's 1-0 victory at San Siro. The six-time European champions also won 1-0 two weeks ago at Old Trafford on Crespo's goal.
"We showed a great form and determination against United. For sure we will be stronger with the return to action of Sheva [Andriy Shevchenko] and Pippo [Inzaghi]," Crespo said.
Crespo, who is on loan from Chelsea, scored in the 61st, taking a cross from Cafu and sending the ball behind United goalkeeper Tim Howard.
"It was a hard game," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "Losing the goal at Old Trafford was the killer for us."
At Lyon, France, coach Paul Le Guen's team became the top scorer in the Champions League with 27 goals in eight matches. The score was tied for the second highest in the history of the Champions League.
Monaco holds the record with an 8-3 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna last season. In the 2000-2001 season, Paris Saint-Germain beat Rosenborg 7-2 at Parc des Princes.
Lyon needed only four minutes to put the match beyond Bremen's reach when Wiltord scored with a composed finish after running onto a pass from Malouda. After than, it was no contest.
French players Johan Micoud and Valerien Ismael scored consolation goals for the German champions.
Spain's Villarreal reached the UEFA Cup semifinals last year, its debut in the European competition.
The little club from eastern Spain is back, playing at Steaua Bucharest today in one of eight, first-leg games in the round of 16.
Villarreal, fourth in the league and hoping for a Champions League place next season, will be wary playing in the Romanian capital.
Defending UEFA Cup champion Valencia was knocked out of the previous round by Steaua, losing 4-3 on penalty kicks. The loss cost Valencia coach Claudio Ranieri his job.
"If the field is like it was when they played Valencia, I think we're going to have difficulties, but we have to adapt," midfielder Josico Moreno said. "We might think it [Steaua] is not a great team, but it's still a dangerous team."
The major absence will be Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, who is ineligible.
Spain has three teams in the last 16, with France and England fielding two each. It's wide open in Europe's No. 2 competition, with a dozen possible winners.
In today's other seven games, it's: Partizan Belgrade versus CSKA Moscow; Olympiakos versus Newcastle; Shakhtar Donetsk versus AZ Alkmaar; Austria Vienna versus Zaragoza; Middlesbrough versus Sporting Lisbon; Lille versus Auxerre; and Sevilla versus Parma.
England's Newcastle was also a semifinalist a year ago, losing to Marseille.
Languishing in 11th place in England, Newcastle is gaining momentum with recent victories over league-leading Chelsea and Liverpool. The defense-minded Magpies play at Olympiakos and then face Tottenham this weekend in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
"Now we are in two cups in our next two games," French winger Laurent Robert said. "Every game is a different challenge for us, but when we are winning, we want the games to come quickly."
Olympiakos coach Dusan Bajevic doesn't expect to be overmatched.
"Undoubtedly, Newcastle is a high-class team with very good players," Bajevic said. "But I believe we can have a positive result in Athens and fight for qualification in the second leg."
France's two entries play each other, with the first leg at Lille. Both teams are coming off league losses.
Lille is winless in its last six matches, including a loss over the weekend to Bastia. Auxerre coach Guy Roux will rely on Bonaventure Kalou, Benoit Cheyrou and Benjani. The three were key in eliminating Ajax two weeks ago 3-1.
FK Austria is just hoping to play its home match against Spain's Zaragoza. A match in the previous round against Spain's Athletic Bilbao was postponed twice in snowy Vienna.
"Despite the recent snow chaos, we are hopeful we can play Thursday, but it will again need hard work from our pitch keepers," club managing director Markus Kraetschmer said.
Austria defeated Zaragoza 1-0 earlier in UEFA Cup group play on a goal from Polish striker Radoslav Gilewicz.
Parma, the lone Italian entry and 1999 champion, has a tough match in Sevilla. Fifth in the Spanish league, Sevilla is winless in four straight league games. Sevilla will be without injured defender Pablo Ruiz. Forward Julio Baptista leads the attack.
Parma is fresh from a 3-2 home win over Cagliari on Sunday. Trying to avoid relegation, the UEFA Cup is also a priority.
Coach Pietro Carmignani is likely to start striker at Alberto Gilardino, who has 14 Serie A goals.
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