In one of the most predictable and slightly boring nights of Champions League football we’ve had this season, Real Madrid had no problem beating Schalke once more with a 3-1 victory in the second leg, while Chelsea didn’t stumble in their tricky encounter with Galatasaray, beating the Turkish side 2-0 to make it into the quarterfinals.
The Chelsea encounter was the one promising to possibly offer some sort of tense moments. Didier Drogba kissed with Jose Mourinho before the match, and it did seem early on to be a very friendly match. Chelsea scored first through Samuel Eto’o, his 30th Champions League goal in his career after a nice assist from Oscar. The Brazilian has been criticized lately for his poor form, but while he isn’t as skillful as Hazard, he makes his decisions and movements quickly enough to matter against slow defenses.
Galatasaray won the possession battle, but it didn’t really matter without creating chances. Before the end of the first half a corner kick Galatasaray struggled to handle eventually ended up in Gary Cahill’s possession, knocking it in from very close range, and deciding the two legs with a 3-1 score for Chelsea.
In Madrid, it was only a matter of getting through the 90 minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to make it 13 goals for him in this Champions League season after only 7 matches, closing the gap between him, Messi and Raul.
Tim Hoogland made it 1-1 in the first half thanks to a lucky deflection as Schalke felt a lot more comfortable and free to operate than in the first match, but couldn’t hold on with the kind of defense they have, and the kind of hunger Real Madrid are showing even in matches that don’t matter.
Alvaro Morata, who for him this is another wasted seasons, got on the scoresheet late in the match, setting the aggregate score at 9-2, with Real Madrid looking like the second best team in Europe at the moment, following only Bayern Munich. A piece of bad news? Jese was injured, possibly tearing his ACL, which means no more football for the talented youngster this season.