If Arsenal were to be in the draw for the Champions League quarter finals, they would have pulled off one of the most dramatic comebacks in sporting history. AC Milan were so confident of their progression, Massimiliano Allegri named two goalkeepers on the bench. But Milan's confidence may have been misplaced as Laurent Koscielny headed the opener from a corner after just seven minutes. Milan's performance was extremely underwhelming and Arsenal created a whole host of chances. Tomas Rosicky has been in great form as of late and made it 2-0 with a beautifully placed shot on 26-minutes. Milan may have began having flashbacks to that infamous Liverpool comeback when Djamel Mesbah brought Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain down in the box. Robin Van Persie stepped up and made it 3-0 with two minutes of the first half left. Unfortunately for Arsenal, they couldn't find that elusive goal in the second half as Milan stumble into the quarter finals.
Zenit travelled to Portugal to protect a 3-2 advantage over Benfica. The Russians' resistance only lasted 45-minutes however as Maxi Pereira broke the deadlock. As it stood, Benfica would go through on away goals but they weren't content with that. Substitute Nelson Oliveira netted a second in second half injury to ensure the Portuguese giants their passage into the last eight.
Lionel Messi once again made history as Barcelona destroyed Bayer Leverkusen. The Spaniards had a 3-1 lead to protect at Camp Nou, but they weren't going to sit back and defend. Messi opened the scoring after 24-minutes with an audacious chip over Bernd Leno. The Ballon D'Or winner then made it 2-0 with a curling left footed strike three minutes before half-time. The little Argentine was in again just four minutes after the restart and, with another little chip, he bagged his eighth hat-trick of the season. Barcelona then brought on their latest youth product, Cristian Tello, within a minute of coming on he found himself on the score-sheet to make it 4-0. Shocking defending allowed Messi to get between two defenders and score his fourth on 58-minutes via an acute angle. Tello hit a second just four minutes later to make it six although Leno will be extremely disappointed that he didn't save it. History was then made five minutes from time when Messi became the first player to score five in a Champions League match with another left footed curler from outside the box. Leverkusen did score an injury time consolation with substitute Karim Bellarabi scoring a Barcelona-esque goal but it only made the aggregate score 10-2.
History was also made in Cyprus as Apoel Nicosia became the first Cypriot team to make it into the quarter finals. Lyon held a 1-0 aggregate lead going into the second leg but that was wiped out after just nine minutes with Gustavo Manduca scoring the goal. The game then fell into extra time and Manduca received a second yellow card with five minutes remaining. But Lyon couldn't take advantage and the teams had to be decided by penalties. Lisandro Lopez hit the post with his penalty but it rebounded off Dionissis Chiotis and into the net. Alexandre Lacazette scored Lyon's goal in the first leg but failed to convert his spot kick to give Apoel a 4-3 advantage. Michel Bastos had his penalty saved to earn Apoel's spot in the quarter finals.
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