Chelsea produced a rousing performance to storm into the quarter-finals, while Cristiano Ronaldo hit a double as Real Madrid took care of CSKA Moscow.
Chelsea 4 (Drogba 29’, Terry 47’, Lampard 75’ pen, Ivanovic 105’ ET) defeated Napoli 1 (Inler 55’), Chelsea win 5-4 on aggregate after extratime
The Blues edged Napoli in a thrilling Round of 16 encounter where the tie see-sawed throughout after Napooli’s 3-1 first-leg win. Napoli had several early chances but Didier Drogba headed Chelsea ahead in the first-half. John Terry put them ahead in the tie early in the second stanza, only for Gokhan Inler to fire Napoli back into the advantage. Frank Lampard converted a penalty on 75 minutes but there was to be no winner in normal time. Eventually, though, Branislav Ivanovic popped up for the decisive extra-time goal when he slammed home on 105 minutes to complete an incredible result.
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo said: “We were in such a difficult position before the game and we knew it would take a lot to go through. “The performance of this whole team was outstanding – not just the senior players, but the collective performance… It meant to a lot to the club to be able to still play in the Champions League. Everybody was very happy and delighted; you could see what it meant to the players and I am delighted with the performance.
“I’ve had some great nights but this will probably go down in club history. With how the players performed, tonight, they showed passion and that they care about the team and the supporters. It will give us a big boost for the rest of the season.”
He added: “We knew that we needed a big performance. We tried to go back to basics, to be solid and we were confident with our quality we could score. We showed passion, quality and team spirit – and that’s what we needed to go through.”
Napoli manager Walter Mazzarri said: “Chelsea did really well and were clinical – they took advantage of the chances they had and we did not. But I’m proud of my players and this is a lesson we need to take going forward. We should have been more careful defensively, but we came up against a team full of champions. But Napoli should be proud tonight.”
Real Madrid 4 (Higuain 26’, Cristiano Ronado 55’, 90’, Benzema 70’) defeated CSKA Moscow 1 (Tosic 77’), Real win 5-2 on aggregate
Jose Mourinho’s side made it two Spanish clubs in the final eight, with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Russians CSKA Moscow in Madrid on Wednesday. Gonzalo Higuain pushed Real ahead in the first half, before keeper Sergei Chepchugov couldn’t handle Cristiano Ronaldo’s long-range drive on 55 minutes. Karim Benzema added a third and it seemed over, although Zoran Tosic offered CSKA some remote hope with the goal of the game with 13 minutes to play. However, Benzema found Ronaldo in stoppage-time for the fourth to seal a comprehensive win.
Real coach Jose Mourinho praised two-goal hero Ronaldo when he said: “Ronaldo is unbelievable. You would have thought with the number of goals he scored last season you couldn’t improve, but he is at another level.”
He added: “It does not matter which opponent we face in the next round. Obviously there are some teams who are stronger than others, but we will face whoever comes. People can’t understand how much I love Chelsea and I know if I get them in the quarter-finals or the semi-finals, they would be great opponents. I’m happy Chelsea have got through, but I’d love to play them in the final.”
CSKA boss Leonid Slutsky refused to blame his keeper when he said: “I would not want to blame anything on Chepchugov. We have to support him, because he played well in the first leg and saved us several times today. More experienced players made mistakes tonight.”
He added: “To get a result we would have needed to produce our best game and make no mistakes. We played in the right manner before the interval, attacked on the break but still made mistakes, giving away chances.”