Round of 16: Leg 2, Day 1 Results

Arsenal's 20 yr old Cesc Fabregas celebrates 'the best moment of [his] career'.


Milan 0-2 Arsenal {Agg: 0-2, Arsenal advances}

In perhaps the biggest match of the night the high powered young Gunners of Arsenal travelled to the San Siro determined to snag the tie from the cagey current cup holders, AC Milan, and in the process become the first English side to ever beat the Rossoneri on their own turf. For much of the first half the hosts seemed more than up to the task as Kaká and young Brazilian starlet Alexandre Pato adventured through the Arsenal back line for chances on net. But as the match wore on the Gunners regained the form which has brought them to the top of EPL. The Frenchman Mathieu Flamini effectively took Kaká out of the match to feed Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb in their tightening press on the Milanese defense. With the tie hanging in a tense 0-0 balance and 6 minutes left on the clock Spanish international Fabregas scored the goal of his young career when he made a run from midfield and hammered a low 25-yard shot into the bottom corner of the net. Togolese international striker Emmanuel Adebayor placed the cherry on top of the gelato in the 2nd minute of injury time with a goal off a cross delivered at the end of a Theo Walcott right-side dash. With Milan effectively out of the Serie A title race, out of the Coppa Italia, and now out of the CL, the Rossoneri will have a lot of time on their hands to determine how to regroup next season.

Sevilla 3-2 Fenerbahçe (3-2p) {Aggregate: 5-5, Fenerbahçe advances on penalties}

Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Volkan Demiral was transformed from mangy goat to sweet-singing canary over the course of the rollercoaster ride return leg of the Turk's tie with Sevilla in Spain Tuesday night. After flubbing two long range shots for goals in the first 10 minutes of the match -- one a Dani Alves free-kick the keeper punched into his own goal, the other a Seydou Keita blast from distance into the top left corner -- Demiral appeared to have single-handedly tripped-up Fenerbahçe's improbable run at this year's European title. But the fired-up Turks refused to go down without a fight and the Brazilian Deivid landed the first blow in the 20th minute by one-timing a Mehmut Aurelio corner through a crowd and into the bottom left corner of the net. 4 minutes before half Sevilla's Malian hero Federic Kanoute sent the crowd back into ecstasy when he deftly controlled a Dani Alves cross with his chest and struck it off Gokhan Gonul past Demiral to restore the Andalusian's advantage. For the ensuing 40 minutes, Sevilla dropped into a defensive posture, clearly hoping to milk their lead to the final whistle. But with 11 minutes left to play Deivid again struck gold when he rifled in the rebound of an Alex free-kick off the post for the tie equaliser. After 30 minutes of extra time this ridiculously high-scoring tie remained a 5-5 aggregate draw and headed to penalty kicks. It was in the shoot-out that keeper Demiral more than made up for his earlier gaffes with two huge saves to book the jubilant Yellow Canaries their first ever appearance in the CL Final 8.


Manchester United 1-0 Lyon {Agg: 2-1, Manchester United advances}

Home side Manchester United, buoyed by their vocal fans, came out of the gates flying at Old Trafford as they looked to quickly break open the tie's 1-1 stalemate with French champions Lyon. United star Cristiano Ronaldo delivered the breakthrough four minutes from half when he skillfully collected a blocked Anderson shot and turned the ball inside the near post past Lyon keeper Gregory Coupet. The tie now rested on a single goal razor's edge and the second half provided plenty of nervy moments for the United faithful as Lyon were forced to attack to salvage their European campaign. The French side came within inches of equalising in the 74th minute when substitue Kader Keita drilled a pass from the ever dangerous Karim Benzema off the near post. But with Lyon's forward forays came space in the back for Red Devil counter attacks, and Wayne Rooney twice missed opportunities to put the visitors away with a second goal. Still Man U held on to their lead and thus recorded their 10th straight home victory in the CL equaling Juventus' record set 11 years ago as they advance for the second consecutive year to the CL quarter-finals.

Barcelona 1-0 Celtic {Agg: 4-2, Barcelona advances}

Barcelona picked up where they left off by dominating a clearly over-matched Celtic on Tuesday night's return leg at the Camp Nou. Already up 3-2 on aggregate, Barça delivered the knockout blow in just the third minute when Ronaldinho made one of his trademark no-look passes to link up telepathically with his countryman Sylvinho on the overlapping run who then crossed it to Xavi for a beautiful one-time volley over Celtic keeper Boruc for the most attractive goal of the night. With the tie virtually decided Barça proceeded to play a 90 minute game of keep away from their Scottish visitors creating plenty of chances along the way. Although happy to advance to the Round of 8, the win was greatly overshadowed by the injury to their young Argentine star Leo Messi who pulled up lame in 35th minute having re-torn his left femoral bicep -- an injury that kept him out for five weeks earlier this season. Messi left the pitch surrounded by his teammates with tears of frustration streaming down his face as the extent of the injury was all too evident for the saddened Catalan onlookers who chanted his name. The loss could not come at a more inopportune time as the Blaugrana are currently competing in three tournaments. If Barça are to advance to the semi-finals they will need to do it without the services of their young superstar as Messi is slated to miss the next 6 weeks of play which includes both matches of their quarterfinal tie in the CL.