By JOHN BOSCHINI
After six miserable years, Real Madrid is through to the quarterfinals.
A 3-0 win over Lyon gave Real Madrid a 4-1 victory on aggregate and broke the Spanish side’s six-year streak of being eliminated from the Champions League in the round of 16.
The victory allowed Real Madrid to join Chelsea in the quarters after the English club posted a scoreless draw to finish with a 2-0 series aggregate victory.
Chelsea and Real Madrid will now take part in the Champions League quarterfinal draw on Friday along with Barcelona, Manchester United, Tottenham, Inter Milan, Schalke 04 and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris managed to keep Real Madrid scoreless for in the early minutes with a handful of fine saves but a brilliant attack from Marcelo broke the deadlock. The Brazilian defender tore up from the back, played a one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo , beat a defender and the shot took a deflection of Lloris and into the net. It was the defender's first European goal for Real Madrid.
Karim Benzema doubled Madrid’s lead in the 66th minute with his second goal in as many games against his former club. A Lyon turnover gifted the ball to Marcelo, who fired ahead to Benzema who slotted it under Lloris.
Angel Di Maria put the contest beyond all doubt with a goal 12 minutes before time. Mesut Ozil found Di Maria with a header who then dinked the ball over Lloris' head.
In London, it wasn’t impressive but a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge gave Chelsea a 2-0 victory on aggregate and booked the Blues a place in the quarterfinals.
A dominating performance three weeks ago against Copenhagen FC gave Chelsea a nearly unassailable lead and the defending English champions were never really under much pressure. Fernando Torres came off the bench but still couldn't find the back of the net. Copenhagen could only manage one shot on goal while Johan Wiland made several fine saves to kept Chelsea at bay.
Here are highlights from both of today's matches:
REAL MADRID 3, LYON 0
CHELSEA 0, Copenhagen 0
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What did you think of today's games? Impressed with Real Madrid's performance? Still believe Chelsea can make a deep run?
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