Holders Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon secured their spots in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday night, advancing past Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayer Leverkusen and Bodo/Glimt respectively.
A fiece effort from Eberechi Eze was the catalyst as Arsenal claimed a quarter-final spot at Leverkusen’s expense with a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta’s side dominated much of the first half and the visitors relied on their goalkeeper Janis Blaswich to make a series of good saves from the likes of Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard.
Eze’s explosive strike on the turn shortly before the break after a smart one-touch passing move finally put the hosts in front, however, and England midfielder Rice stroked in a smooth second to give the English Premier League leaders a deserved 3-1 aggregate success.
At Stamford Bridge, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola and Senny Mayulu struck as PSG cruised through with a 3-0 victory and sealed a record 8-2 aggregate win.
Kvaratskhelia, whose late double sealed a 5-2 first-leg win, held off Mamadou Sarr to fire in from inside the box after six minutes.
Barcola had scored the opening goal of the tie six days earlier, and the winger added to his tally by curling in clinically to complete a rapid break by the visitors in the 15th minute.
Half-time substitute Mayulu followed suit 17 minutes after the restart with a superb finish for the holders, who will meet Liverpool or Galatasaray in the quarter-finals.
At the Etihad Stadium, Real Madrid knocked Manchester City out of the competition for the third campaign running following Vinícius Júnior’s double in a 2-1 victory on the night (5-1 on aggregate).
The hosts attempted to overturn the 3-0 first-leg deficit from the off, but it was the Brazilian international who struck first, coolly converting his spot kick after a Bernardo Silva handball, for which the City captain was dismissed.
The 10 men drew level just before the break via Erling Haaland’s close-range effort, but Pep Guardiola’s side could not muster an unlikely comeback, Vinicius pouncing in added time by steering in Aurélien Tchouaméni’s inviting delivery.
In Lisbon, Sporting became just the fifth team in Champions League history to overcome a first-leg deficit of three goals or more as they struck twice in extra time to complete a memorable ‘remontada’ (comeback) against Bodø/Glimt.
Trailing 3-0 after last week’s first leg in Norway, the hosts made the breakthrough when Gonçalo Inácio rose to head in a corner.
They kept the pressure on in the second half and got their reward when Pedro Gonçalves finished off a brilliant team move before Luis Suárez converted a penalty with 12 minutes remaining.
In extra time Maximiliano Araújo quickly fired in to spark delirium and Rafael Nel slammed in a late fifth as Sporting reached the quarter-finals for the first time since the 1982/83 European Cup with a 5-3 aggregate win.
RESULTS
Sporting Lisbon 5-0 Bodo/Glimt (Agg: 5-3)
Arsenal 2-0 Leverkusen (Agg: 3-1)
Chelsea 0-3 Paris (Agg: 2-8)
Man City 1-2 Real Madrid (Agg: 1-5)
