After Tuesday's abnormally high scoring quarter final first legs. No-one really knew what to expect in last night's first legs. Although in the end both results could have been predicted.
Barcelona hosted Shakhtar Donetsk in a match that was predicted to be a blood bath for the Ukrainians. That was what materialised and it took just two minutes for Iniesta to break the deadlock. Dani Alves made it 2-0 before the break, after 37 minutes. The game looked practically over just eight minutes into the second half when Pique made it 3-0 but Shakhtar pulled a goal back six minutes later through Yaroslav Ratikskiy. That seemed the anger the Spaniards and it was 4-1 a minute later with Seydou Keita getting the goal on the hour. Xavi rounded off the rout four minutes from the end to already seemingly set up an all Spanish semi-final against Real Madrid. Iniesta may have been a little clever by getting booked to see him suspended for the second leg to make sure he'll be available for the encounter with Real.
The other quarter-final is the only one that isn't already potentially determined. Chelsea entertained Manchester United in a game that had two scripts written for it; either Torres was break his duck and give Chelsea the advantage or Rooney was going to silence his critics by giving United the advantage without swearing down any camera. As luck would have it, one of the scripts came to life with Rooney getting the only goal of the game after 24 minutes. Chelsea came closest to the game's second goal when Torres firstly hit the post before Evra cleared Lampard's shot off the line before half-time. Torres then had a second half header superbly saved by the veteran Van Der Sar. Chelsea also had a late penalty appeal turned down when looked to have brought Ramires down in the box. But United come away from Stamford Bridge with an advantage and maybe more importantly an away goal.
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