Champions League: Round of 16

Well I got 5 out of 8 right, and that was even after the first leg, but at least it was better than my first foray into picking the EPL. Here are some quick recaps of the games from this week.

Atletico was held to a scoreless draw at Porto which allowed the Portuguese to go through thanks to the away goals rule. All accounts state Porto's dominance and after their 2-2 win away from home a ticket to the next round seems well deserved to me.

Villareal came out 2-1 winners against Panathinaikos in a hostile Greek environment. The win put them through 3-2 on aggregate.

Chelsea left it late, Didier Drogba scoring in the 83rd minute against Juventus to tie the score at 2-2. The Ivorian's winner at home pushed Chelsea through 3-2 on aggregate. Hiddink looks to have his Blues firing on all cylinders.

Bayern, well...what can you say? The German giants humiliated Sporting Lisbon once again and go through with an astounding 12-1 aggregate.

Roma were the 1-0 victors at the Stadio Olimpico yet suffered heartbreak in the penalties as Arsenal's earlier victory by the same score put the tie into extra time. Tonetto's miss put the Gunners through. I was really rooting for Roma as I am a huge Totti fan and it would have been cool to have a team play a final in its home stadium.

A game Inter side was not enough to knock off the Manchester United juggernaut. Inter acquitted themselves well but goals early in each half from Nemanja Vidic and Christiano Ronaldo sent the 3rd Italian team of the week home. United remain on course for an unprecedented 5 trophies.

No one would count out a scrappy Lyon side after they drew at home with Barcelona but the Spanish proved too talented at Camp Nou. Goals by Messi, Eto'o, and Henry (2) within 18 minutes in the first half ultimately led to a comfortable 5-2 victory for the Spanish side and push them through 6-3 on aggregate.

But the most important match of course...

Liverpool ran riot on Real Madrid. 4-0. Unbelievable! I predicted they'd play it safe with a lead and an away goal in hand. They've adopted this strategy before and it's actually led to them losing some second-leg home matches while still managing to progress. But this time Rafa went for the jugular and it payed off big time. Liverpool piled on from the whistle and dominated play in the early stages with goals from Torres and a fortunate spot-kick from Gerrard seeing the Reds 2-0 up at the break. Stevie G added some insurance right after halftime with a sweet half volley. Iker Casillas who actually had an outstanding match for Madrid, was finally beaten for the 4th time on a classic Liverpool break out finished by onrushing defender Andrea Dossena.

Wins like this make it all the more frustrating that Liverpool gets snagged up by lesser sides in the EPL every year but besides that I can't begrudge a classic European victory like this. Knowing they won't have to run into my other favorite team, again, I'm riding high with Liverpool, hopefully to the CL final.