/ 11 March 2004

Real Madrid play hard to reach quarterfinal

Real Madrid, defending champion AC Milan, Arsenal and Monaco reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Chelsea, Deportivo, Lyon and Porto advanced on Tuesday with the draw for the quarterfinals of Europe’s number-one club competition scheduled for Friday in Nyon, Switzerland.

Nine-time champions Real Madrid played one of their best defensive games of the season to beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Spanish capital on Zinedine Zidane’s first-half goal to advance 2-1 on aggregate.

The victory was only Real Madrid’s fifth in 16 matches against the Germans and leaves the Spaniards as the favourites.

After a scoreless first leg, champions six-time winners AC Milan defeated Sparta Prague 4-1 on two goals by Andriy Shevchenko and others from Filippo Inzaghi and Gennaro Gattuso. Tomas Jun scored for the Czechs.

AC Milan scored three goals in 20 minutes in the second half to break the match open.

English league-leaders Arsenal defeated Spain’s Celta Vigo 2-0 in London on two Thierry Henry goals, going through 5-2 on aggregate.

Dado Prso, who missed an early penalty, scored in the 60th as the French league leaders defeated 10-man Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0 and advanced on the away rule after a 2-2 aggregate.

On Tuesday Manchester United and last year’s runner-up Juventus were knocked out of the competition. — Sapa-AP