XII. UEFA Champions League

The 2nd leg (2nd match) of the round of 16 was played this past week and the final 8 of the tournament is all set. A quick rundown on the tournament's format once it gets down to 16 teams and beyond: 2 clubs are drawn out of the pot at random, when two clubs are paired they then play a home-away first and second leg. Whichever club has the higher aggregate score from these two matches advances. However, in the event of a tied aggregate score the team with more away goals advances. For a full explanation of the "away goals rule" used by the UEFA, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Away_goals_rule

For example, Liverpool was matched against defending champions Barcelona FC in the round of 16. The first leg was played at Barcelona and Liverpool won 2-1, so chalk up 2 'away' goals for my boys. Fast forward to this week, match at Anfield, and Barcelona needs to score 2 goals to advance.....they ended up scoring a goal in the 74th minute (so now the aggregate is tied at 2-2) but Liverpool is still well-placed to advance because they own the advantage in away goals 2-1 still. Another 20 minutes elapses (during which time Ronaldhino absolutely smokes the ball at the goal, only for it to glance off the post.....their best chance at a W), all the rabid englishmen sing "You'll Never Walk Alone", and Liverpool is bound for the final 8.

Two other English sides made it to the final 8, Chelsea and Manchester United, although none of the 3 clubs are matched against each other in the quarter-finals. The dancing arrangements for the big party:

AC Milan vs. Bayern Munich- Bayern knocked out the Beckham-less Real Madrid side to advance.

PSV Eindhoven vs. Liverpool- Eindhoven advances after beating EPL club Arsenal. Not only did Arsenal lose the match, they also lost striker Thierry Henry for the rest of the season. ouch. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard (aka My Man Crush or Superman, whichever you prefer) was ecstatic after the Barcelona result, having said during the week leading up to the match that holding off defending champions Barcelona was going to be a harder task than beating AC Milan in the Champions League final 2 years ago. Done and done.

AC Roma vs. Man United- Roma advanced by beating French side Lyon, while EPL leaders Man United took care of Lille.

Chelsea vs. Valencia- Chelsea beat FC Porto by a 3-2 aggregate to advance. While Chelsea is the two-time defending EPL champions, they have never even advanced to the Champions League final match let alone come away with the hardware. Spanish side Valencia advanced by winning on a 1-1 aggregate but taking the aways goal advantage from Serie A club Inter Milan. Towards the end of their 2nd leg match players from Valencia and Inter absolutely went at it, with players exchanging kicks and punches. The fracas then spilled into the tunnel by which players depart the playing field. UEFA is currently investigating the brawl to see if any suspensions will be made.

The round of 8 will be played from April 3-11, and the schedule is as appears below (all matches are played at 2:45pm Eastern Standard Time):

Tuesday April 3, 2007
Bayern Munich at AC Milan
Liverpool at PSV Eindhoven

Wednesday April 4, 2007
Valencia at Chelsea
Manchester United at Roma

Tuesday April 10, 2007
Valencia at Chelsea
Roma at Manchester United

Wednesday April 11, 2007
AC Milan at Bayern Munich
PSV Eindhoven at Liverpool

Note- there might be an error on ESPN because they have both matches being played between Chelsea and Valencia at Stamford Bridge (Chelsea's home field)....I'll check out if that's a mistake.