Champions League Round of 16 Results
- Joseph Schoenbauer - March 10, 2006
The standings after the group stages proved significant in this year’s addition of the Champions League. Seven out of the eight teams that topped their group in the initial stages, and therefore played their second-leg tie at home in the round of 16, moved on to the quarterfinals of the competition. Only Benfica, who defeated reigning champions Liverpool 3-0 on aggregate, were able to move on after finishing second in their group behind Villarreal.
Barcelona 3 – Chelsea 2
Despite initially going up 1-0 in the first leg, courtesy of a Thiago Motta own goal, Chelsea never showed the ability to get past a Barcelona side that simply outclassed the most expensive team ever assembled. With the damage done on the potato patch, which has since been relayed, in the first leg, it was Chelsea who had to bring the initiative to Barcelona in the second leg at Camp Nou. However, they failed to put much of anything together from the beginning and looked like a team that had accepted their own limitations, especially a largely anonymous Frank Lampard. Their expensively assembled squad had no answers to the attacking quartet of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi, and Deco, while the hyped likes of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba did only enough to convince their coach that they were the better team. Only a penalty kick in injury time of the second leg, which had it made any difference to the end result, would have been hugely protested by the Barcelona players, since Giovanni van Bronchorst clearly can be seen kicking the ball away as John Terry’s lethargic boot kicks into Gio’s back, gave Chelsea fans anything to reflect upon. The tie was well and truly settled before then, especially after Ronaldinho made a little boy out of John Terry before firing past Peter Cech to give Barcelona the 3-1 lead on aggregate in the 78th minute of the second leg.
Man of the Tie – Ronaldinho – He deftly pulled the strings from midfield in the first leg after Chelsea were rightly reduced to 10 men, and put on a show of absolute skill in the second, before sublimely finishing off Chelsea with a goal of his own.
Lyon 4 – PSV 0
Lyon was fortunate to be leading 1-0 going into the second leg back in France. In Eindhoven, another Juninho freekick unsettled PSV goalkeeper Gomes, and he could only deflect it into the back of his own net. The second leg in France left no doubt about who the stronger team of the two was though, with Lyon scoring early and then taking advantage of a Philip Cocu red card to eventually end up 3-0 winners on the night, and 4-0 on aggregate. The goal scoring and tackling of Portuguese midfielder Tiago, who bagged two in the second leg, has meant that Lyon’s midfield hasn’t skipped a beat since the sale of Michael Essien to Chelsea for 25 million euros.
Man of the Tie – Juninho – His first leg goal, while fortuitous, proved to be decisive, and his creative play in the second leg over ran the PSV midfield. He will be unfortunate to miss the first leg of the quarterfinals due to suspension.
Villarreal 3 – Rangers 3 (Villarreal wins on away goals rule)
Villarreal’s dream run in the competition continued when former Boca Juniors defender Radolfo Arruabarena popped up at the far post to finish off a move involving Riquelme and a back heel from Diego Forlan in the 49th minute of the second leg in Spain to even the score at 1-1. The goal put Villarreal through to the quarterfinals on the away goals rule after a final 3-3 aggregate score. Going into the game after a thrilling 2-2 draw at Ibrox stadium in Scotland, the one goal was all Villarreal needed to ensure their passage. There was much to cheer about for the many Rangers fans that managed to attain tickets to the away leg initially though. After a number of strong attacking forays, they went up 1-0 in the 12th minute thanks to the dangerous Danish international, Peter Lovenkrands, who did well to anticipate when Villarreal goalkeeper Sebastian Viera could only deflect the initial shot.
Man of the Tie – Juan Roman Riquelme – After a month out of action with leg muscle problems, Riquelme returned to put on a show in the first leg, and led Villarreal to the quarterfinals of a competition they are competing in for the first time.
Liverpool 0 – Benfica 3
Benfica took advantage of the misfiring and inept Liverpool, with Brazilian center back Luisao giving them the 1-0 advantage after the first leg in Lisboa. Two outstanding goals from Simao and Fabrizio Miccoli in the second leg at Anfield polished off the current champions. Benfica goalkeeper Quim was outstanding over both legs. However, one would be hard pressed to expect the likes of Peter Crouch, Fernando Morientes, Djibril Cisse and Robbie Fowler to find the back of the net given their current horrendous form.
Man of the Tie – Luisao – While the Benfica goalie deserves many plaudits, it was Luisao who repelled many a Liverpool attack, while also making the difference at the other end, in the first leg, when he headed in a Benfica free kick in the 86th minute to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
Juventus 4 – Werder Bremen 4 (Juventus wins on away goals rule)
Werder Bremen is a fantastic attacking side, and if not for the tragic blunder by goalkeeper Wiese in the 88th minute of the second leg in Turin, it would be Werder Bremen instead of Juventus in the quarterfinals. Instead, “the ball that got away” fell to an unsuspecting Emerson, who duly responded by poking the ball into the open net to put the Italians through. The game ended much differently than the first leg, when in Germany, Juventus led 2-1 until the final minutes when Werder Bremen created 2 goals to give them the 3-2 win.
Man of the Tie – Emerson – Emerson weighed in with 2 goals over the 2 legs, including the last and most important one, unexpectedly putting the tie in Juventus’s favor with just 2 minutes to go.
AC Milan 5 – Bayern Munich 2
The tie that was seen by many as extremely difficult to predict turned out to be not as close as it seemed on paper. The 1-1 draw in the first leg in Munich seemed to confirm the evenness between the two teams, but there was no such difficulty in separating the teams in the second leg, with a rampant Milan running out 4-1 winners. The experienced Filippo Inzaghi gave an especially lively performance in the second leg, weighing in with 2 goals, while Shevchenko and Brazilian star Kaka also contributed to the score sheet.
Man of the Tie – Filippo Inzaghi – The Milan striker has been plagued by injuries for virtually 2 years straight now. Apparently, he wants to make up for lost time. After forcing his way into the starting lineup with some convincing goal scoring displays in the Italian league, Super Pippo did not disappoint, scoring 2 of the 4 goals in the decisive second leg.
Arsenal 1 – Real Madrid 0
The lowest scoring of the ties, yet arguably the most entertaining as well, Arsenal showed Europe exactly what England has been seeing for the last 7 or 8 years: spirited and skillful attacking play from the forwards, midfield, and fullbacks. 20-year-old Emmanuel Eboue’s galloping runs down the right side were as impressive as the magnificent 18-year-old Cesc Fabregas performances in the center of midfield, while Alexandr Hleb is beginning to show why Arsene Wenger spent so much money on him in the summer. Thierry Henry’s goal in the first leg in Madrid, after he beat 4 Madrid defenders, was the icing on the cake for Arsenal’s fans. For Real Madrid, the return of Raul from injury proved a step in the wrong direction, while the play of Ronaldo and substitute Julio Baptista left much to be desired.
Man of the Tie – Thierry Henry – With determination written all over his face for the entire 180 minutes, Thierry Henry led by example, putting in the work to disrupt Real Madrid’s midfield and back line, and capped it off with a solo effort in the first leg that will no doubt be considered one of the goals of the year.
Inter 3 – Ajax 2
Inter Milan took their positive 2-2 score line from the first leg in Amsterdam back to Milan where a strong solo run by Dejan Stankovic, that ended with a sublime shot that curled around the out stretched arms of the Ajax goalkeeper and into the right hand side of the net, gave Inter a 1-0 win on the night. Earlier in the game, an Obefemi Martins shot hit the cross bar and Adriano missed a penalty kick. But in the end, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and the rest of the Ajax team couldn’t use this to their advantage before Stankovic finished them off.
Man of the Tie – Dejan Stankovic – His solo effort after picking the ball up close to the midway line in the second leg was pure class, while his hard work and determination didn’t go unnoticed over the 2 legs.