Villarreal advance to last eight with Greek success

Argentine midfielder Ariel Ibagaza scored one goal and then turned provider for Joseba Llorente’s winner to lift Spanish club Villarreal into the Champions League quarter-finals after a 2-1 victory Tuesday night at Greek side Panathinaikos.

Ibagaza, a surprise starter by Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini, gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute when he took a well-aimed pass from Joan Capdevila to score from up close past Panathinaikos keeper Mario Galinovic.

But Panathinaikos came roaring back to score just six minutes later to delight - albeit briefly - a sellout 60,000 crowd at the Athens Olympic Stadium when striker Vangelis Mantzios headed the ball beyond goalie Diego Lopez’s reach after a perfect corner from midfielder Giorgos Karagounis.

Mantzios’ fourth goal in six UEFA Champions League matches made the score 1-1, just as in the first leg of the first knockout round of the competition in Spain.

The winning tally by forward Llorente came in the 70th minute from up close after a nifty pass from Ibagaza split the Panathinaikos defence.

The first half was mostly dull, with no threats from either team coming until the 28th minute when Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi had an ideal opportunity to score blasting a left-footed shot just outside the penalty box which was deflected wide after hitting two Panathinaikos defenders.

The visitors had a goal ruled out by referee Massimo Busacca in the 35th minute when Ibagaza scored from up close in a mixup in front of the Panathinaikos goalmouth, but the official ruled that Ibabaza fouled defender Loukas Vintra.

The best chance for the home team in the first half came when Mantzios broke away from two defenders after taking a perfect pass from midfielder Simao, but Mantzios’ hard, low left-footed shot was deflected by Lopez.

Chelsea oust Juve after 2-2 thriller

Goals from African pair Didier Drogba and Michael Essien earned Chelsea a 2-2 draw at Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday to send last year’s finalists through to the quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.

In a pulsating match Juve finished with 10 men following the second half dismissal of Giorgio Chiellini but goals from Vincenzo Iaquinta and evergreen Alessandro Del Piero had briefly given them cause to hope.

Instead the first of three Anglo-Italian ties in the second round went the way of the powerful Premier League.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg and needing to score, Juve coach Claudio Ranieri picked an attacking line-up with Del Piero playing behind forwards David Trezeguet and Iaquinta.

Iaquinta played a one-two with Trezeguet, whose return ball flicked over his head was perfectly weighted, allowing his strike partner to outpace John Terry and finish past Petr Cech with aplomb.

Juve suddenly had a spring in their step and Del Piero tried his luck from distance, forcing Cech to tip the ball over.

The hosts were looking comfortable and having the better of things without looking like adding to their lead.

But the game turned on its head in a crazy spell at the end of the first period.

On 45 minutes Drogba lined up to take a free-kick which he bent around the wall and just inside the post.

Gianluigi Buffon got across his line to clutch the ball at the post at the second attempt but television replays showed it had just sneaked over the line.

It wasn’t given but Chelsea’s frustration fired them up enough to equalise in first half stoppage time anyway.

Frank Lampard set his sights from distance and his shot took a deflection and looped up with Buffon arching back to tip it onto the bar.

It came down and may too have crossed the line but Essien charged in to bundle the ball home and leave no doubt this time that the Blues were on level terms.

That changed the tone of the game and it took Juventus a full quarter of an hour of the second period to start looking dangerous.

When they did Del Piero was the architect of a move on 65 minutes that almost resulted in a score as he crossed for Trezeguet to head goalwards, only for Cech to produce a flying save.

Ranieri introduced young playmaker Sebastian Giovinco and he too almost created something but Del Piero couldn’t quite get a flick on his team-mate’s free-kick.

But 20 minutes from time any chance of a Juve revival seemingly died as Chiellini picked up a second booking for clattering into Drogba.

However, moments later Del Piero fired a free-kick into the Chelsea wall that struck Michael Ballack’s raised arms and the referee pointed to the spot, with Del Piero himself cooly slotting the ball home.

It was game on but seven minutes from time Chelsea sealed their passage into the last eight as substitute Juliano Belletti crossed for Drogba to poke home from close range for his fourth goal in five games.

Double for Podolski as Bayern set new record

Germany striker Lukas Podolski struck twice on Tuesday as Bayern Munich hammered Sporting Lisbon 7-1 to set a new Champions League record on their way to the quarter-finals.

Tuesday night’s rout at Munich’s Allianz Arena means the tie finishes 12-1 on aggregate and sets a new record for a Champions League knock-out stage tie - bettering Olympique Lyonnais’ old mark of 10-2 against Werder Bremen in the 2004/05 season.

Luca Toni and Franck Ribery had both scored two goals in Lisbon a fortnight ago in the first-leg Round of 16 tie to virtually ensure Bayern Munich a last eight spot when Sporting were hammered 5-0 in Portugal.

Both Italy’s Toni and France’s Ribery were missing with injury for the second-leg, but their absence was barely felt.

Having totally dominated in Lisbon, Bayern carried on where they left off as Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto flicked a pass to Podolski, who lobbed Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio after just seven minutes.

And having scored in the 5-1 hammering of Hanover in the German league last Saturday, Podolski made it three goals in two games with an opportunist bicycle kick after a Patricio error which he smashed into the net on 34 minutes.

And things went from bad to far worse for the guests when Sporting defender Polga knocked a cross into his own net on 39 minutes.

Lisbon captain Joao Moutinho hit a superb dipping effort into the top left-hand corner on 42 minutes to peg the arrears back to 3-1, but Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger scored less than two minutes later to make it 4-1 at the break.

Munich teenager Thomas Mueller took over from Schweinsteiger and the 19-year-old had played just two minutes of his Champions League debut when he set up Bayern’s fifth goal after 74 minutes.

Mueller beat the Sporting defence on the right and put in a pin-point accurate cross which Miroslav Klose headed back for captain Mark van Bommel to drill home.

And Klose grabbed one of his own when he was brought down by Sporting defender Pedro Silva, but the Germany star picked himself up from the turf to drill home his penalty on 82 minutes.

And Mueller profited from a saved shot from Podolski on 90 minutes when he was presented with a simple tap-in as Bayern became the first team to score 12 goals over two legs in a Champions League knock-out tie.

European Cups - Champions League - Result

March 10
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Bayern Munich | 7 - 1 | Sporting Lisbon
Juventus | 2 - 2 | Chelsea
Liverpool | 4 - 0 | Real Madrid
Panathinaikos | 1 - 2 | Villarreal

Park hopes Rio will be fit

Park Ji-sung admits it would be a ‘big loss’ if Rio Ferdinand missed Manchester United’s clash with Inter Milan, but has backed Jonny Evans to deputise.

“I don’t know if it is a big problem and I hope it isn’t,” said Park. “It would be a big loss for us if he missed the game, although Jonny has done very well for us this season and he can replace Rio and do well again.

“He gained experience from the match in the San Siro against them and I hope he can do okay.”