Last 8: Leg 1, Day 2

Chelsea 1-1 Valencia

Valencia positioned themselves well with a hard fought away draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The play opened at break-neck pace with both sides passing well, but it was Valencia who had more chances on net through the first half. In the 30th minute it was one of the Spanish side's three David's - David Silva - who broke the stalemate on a stunning blast at an improbable angle from well outside the penalty area delivering an all-important away goal for Los Che. But Chelsea have been the comeback kings throughout the tournament collecting scores of goals in the final 10 minutes of play, and this night they would not be denied. In the 53rd minute Ivory Coast international striker Didier Drogba salvaged the match for the Blues with a nifty header off a fortuitously served ball from a clearance by English international defender Ashley Cole. Valencia's positive result is slightly tempered by the injury to key midfielder Vicente Rodriguez suffered in the 55th minute of play. With Vicente out the organization of the Valencia midfield diminished noticeably with Chelsea pressing forward trhoughout the rest of the game. Los Che will need to overcome their many injuries if they are to take the return leg from the Blues in the Mestalla next week.

Roma 2-1 Manchester United

Manchester United was fortunate to come away with only a 2-1 loss to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome after playing the majority of the match a man down. The Giallorossi started the contest with an offensive flurry orchestrated by the intricately free-flowing tactics of coach Luciano Spalletti. Man U.'s injury depleted defense looked jittery under the pressure and did not settle into any semblance of rhythm until 20 minutes into the match. After several ill-judged tackles throughout the first half, veteran Red Devil midfielder Paul Scholes finally pushed his luck one too many times and picked up his second yellow card in the 35th minute of play which banished him to the dressing room and left his side with only 10 men for the remainder of play. This proved to be a devestating blow as Roma were able to break through the deadlock in the 44th mintute on a quickly taken corner by Roma captain and Italian international Francesco Totti whose pass found Brazilian midfielder and last round dazzler Alessandro Mancini who threaded it to the young Italian midfielder Rodrigo Taddei for a lighting strike deflected off United defender Wes Brown and into the net. Despite the man deficit Manchester United were able to string together many fast-paced counter attacks in the second half led by the speed and prowess of Portugese international forward Christiano Ronaldo. Indeed it was a beautiful break by Ronlado in the 60th minute that initiated the Red Devils' equaliser and crucial away goal when English international forward Wayne Rooney deftly controlled Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's cross with his chest and cooly delivered a shot past Roma keeper Doni. But Man U let the draw slip away when Serbia-Montenegrin international striker Mirko Vucinic scored off a rebound from a Mancini shot in the 66th minute. The match was marred by a violent clash in the crowd during the halftime break. This was the culmination of a week-long war of words where Manchester United has warned their fans to avoid certain sections of the city and Rome's mayor had accused the English club of escalating the tensions by issuing the warning. UEFA is looking into the incident which at first blush seems to be the result of over aggressive Italian police tactics in beating down the English fans. Look for much finger-pointing in assessing blame for the bloodshed, but with the rash of violence in Italian football one might conclude that the Romans bear a significant portion of the responsibility.