Liverpool tore Real Madrid apart with a blistering 4-0 win to reach the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday while Premier League rivals Chelsea drew 2-2 with Juventus in Turin to progress 3-2 on aggregate. Bayern Munich cantered into the last eight by routing Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon 7-1 in Germany and 12-1 over the two legs for a Champions League aggregate record victory, eclipsing Olympique Lyon’s 10-2 demolition of Werder Bremen home and away in the corresponding round of the 2004-05 competition.
Spain’s Villarreal won 2-1 in Athens against Panathinaikos to edge the tie 3-2. Real, 1-0 down from the first leg, had no answers to a scintillating attacking display at Anfield from Liverpool who condemned the Spaniards to a last-16 exit for the 5th successive season. It was Real’s worst defeat in a Champions League game and a miserable return to England for coach Juande Ramos, sacked by Tottenham in October last year.
Chelsea continued their good form under interim Dutch coach Guus Hiddink as the London side twice came from a goal down to knock out Claudio Ranieri’s Juventus in a controversial match. Iaquinta fired the Italians ahead with a fierce shot across Petr Cech before Michael Essien equalised. Essien’s goal came just after Chelsea thought they had levelled when Didier Drogba’s free kick was pushed against the post and then grasped by keeper Gianluigi Buffon. The officials decided not to award the goal but replays showed the ball had gone just over the line. Juve had Giorgio Chiellini sent off for a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining. But Alessandro del Piero converted a 74th-minute penalty after Juliano Belletti’s handball but the Brazilian atoned when he crossed for Drogba to put the contest beyond Juve’s reach.
