A pair of comfortable wins saw Chelsea and Real Madrid advance to the Champions League quarter-finals as they beat Galatasaray 3-1 and Schalke 9-2 respectively on aggregate.
While all the attention had been focused on the reunion with Didier Drogba, it was a Chelsea striker who got the ball rolling Chelsea’s way with a strike after four minutes. If that was a well-worked incursion, the second goal owed everything to smart reactions, Gary Cahill following up a John Terry header to score from close range.
Chelsea never had to get out second gear all night all Gala were really poor. Chelsea totally dominated the game and could easily have scored four or five if they had been more careful with their passes in the final third.
In Madrid, Real warmed up for this weekend’s El Clasico by beating Schalke 3-1. After winning 6-1 in Germany in the first leg, this game was never going to be a contest, but that didn’t mean that Cristiano Ronaldo would not be taking it serious.
The World Player of the Year scored twice to give him 13 goals in the Champions league this season, and is now within one of the European Cup record for a single campaign set by Lionel Messi. With at least two games left in the competition it will be a brave man to bet against Ronaldo not breaking the record.
The only bad news for Real on the night was the sight of Jese holding his knee in agony after an innocuous tackle from Sead Kolasinac inside the opening two minutes. Early reports are that the young Madrid star has torn his anterior cruciate ligament, if true that will keep Jese out for at least six months.
