APOEL Nicosia again ripped the Champions League record books to shreds and kicked off an island party by becoming the first Cypriot team to make the last eight of any European competition on Wednesday.
Karim Benzema and Kaka scored late goals to give Real Madrid an emphatic 3-0 win at APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.
Barcelona and AC Milan qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League as expected with room to spare on Tuesday and surprise package APOEL Nicosia are poised to join them after continuing to punch above their weight.
Praise comes in from all quarters as Argentine breaks Raul's Champions League record.
An under-strength Barcelona got their Champions League campaign off to a solid if unspectacular start when Gerard Pique's header secured a laboured 1-0 win at home to APOEL in their Group F opener on Wednesday.
A touch of romance has returned to the Champions League quarter-finals with seven countries, including Cyprus, represented in this week's first legs with AC Milan-Barcelona topping the bill.
Titleholders Barcelona were given a tough draw against Italian champions AC Milan in the Champions League quarter-finals on Friday.
Chelsea nervously beat Benfica 2-1 in their Champions League quarter-final second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to seal a 3-1 aggregate victory and set up a semi-final with holders Barcelona later this month. Real Madrid completed an 8-2 aggregate, thrashing of APOEL Nicosia, in the night's other match.
Real Madrid and Chelsea look set to join Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals when they complete their last eight ties at home to APOEL Nicosia and Benfica respetively on Wednesday.
Holders Real Madrid will start their attempt to win a record third straight Champions League title in a group with Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur and Apoel Nicosia after Thursday's draw.
Two goals by Alexis Sanchez -- his first in the Champions League -- led Barcelona to a 3-1 first-leg win at Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday to put the holders in the driving seat in their round of 16 tie.
Didier Drogba scored twice on his return from a three-match European suspension as Chelsea drew 2-2 at Atletico Madrid to seal their place in the knock-out round of the Champions League on Tuesday. They were joined in the last 16 by Manchester United, Porto and Girondins Bordeaux, although four-time European champions Bayern Munich are on the brink of elimination after losing at home to the French champions.
Arsenal eased into the group stages of the Champions League on Wednesday by outclassing Celtic 3-1 to enter Thursday's draw where they will be joined by Fiorentina, VfB Stuttgart, Olympiakos and APOEL Nicosia.
Another Lionel Messi hat-trick lit up the Champions League yet again as Barcelona and AC Milan qualified for the last 16 with time to spare on Tuesday although it is APOEL Nicosia who are fast becoming the talk of the group stages.
European champions Real Madrid will face former champions Liverpool, FC Basel and debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria following the draw for the group stage of the Champions league on Thursday.
Lionel Messi set a new Champions League scoring record with a hat-trick and Luis Suarez netted his first in Barcelona colours as the Spaniards comprehensively beat APOEL Nicosia 4-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has failed to recover from a calf strain and will miss Tuesday's Champions League Group F match at APOEL Nicosia.
Images from Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
With the distraction of two individual scoring records safely out of the way, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi can turn his full focus on helping the club win the major silverware that eluded them last season.
Arsenal's young guns continued to shine as they dismantled Standard Liege 4-0 on a hectic night of Europa League action that produced a full house of Spanish victories on Thursday. A summary of the matches.
Manchester United, winners of the competition in 2017, will have a lot of travelling to do to Eastern Europe after being drawn alongside Kazakhstan side Astana, Serbia's Partizan Belgrade and Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
In the day's other fixtures, Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb took a big step towards the next stage with a 2-0 win at Georgians Saburtalo and Copenhagen won at Welsh side The New Saints by the same score.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has labelled Lionel Messi has the 'best' player he has seen after the Argentine forward spurred a 2-0 victory over Ajax Amsterdam that secured the Spanish side a place in the Champions League knockout stages.
Liverpool scored three goals in 12 dramatic first-half minutes, two of them from Emre Can, on their way to a hugely entertaining 4-2 win over Hoffenheim which took them back to the Champions League group stage after a two-season absence on Wednesday.
A summary of all the Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday
Pep Guardiola's ManchesterCity will play Romanian side Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League playoff round after the draw was made in Nyon on Friday.
Celtic, who won Europe's premier club competition in 1967, set up a clash with Romanians Cluj in the next stage after a 2-0 win at Nomme Kalju completed a 7-0 aggregate rout of the Estonian champions.
Lionel Messi scored twice to equal Raul's Champions League scoring record as Barcelona secured their place in the knockout stages by beating 10-man Ajax Amsterdam 2-0 on Wednesday.
Tottenham fell to seventh after winning just one league game in November but have since recovered with a morale-boosting Champions League victory over APOEL Nicosia, followed by two consecutive domestic wins to climb back into the top four.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in his 150th European appearance to give Real Madrid a 3-1 victory at Borussia Dortmund, their first against them in Germany, and make it two wins out of two matches in their Champions League Group H.
Cristiano Ronaldo is eager to return to action as he prepares for his first start of the season when Real Madrid begin their Champions League defence on Wednesday against APOEL Nicosia, coach Zinedine Zidane said on Tuesday.
images from the UEFA Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday
Four-time European champions Ajax Amsterdam were knocked out of the Champions League in the third qualifying round on Tuesday after a dramatic 3-2 defeat at home to unsung Rapid Vienna.
FC Pune City also bolstered their defence by signing former Espanyol and Deportivo La Coruna defender Diego Colotto for the second edition of the eight-team league beginning on October 3.
Kazakhstan's Astana fought back to beat a youthful Manchester United side 2-1 at home, Arsenal's woes continued as Frankfurt's Daichi Kamada scored twice to secure a 2-1 win.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi set a La Liga record of 253 goals when he grabbed a hat-trick in Saturday's 5-1 win at home to Sevilla, the latest milestone for the four-times World Player of the Year.
Manchester City's all-conquering season reached new peaks as Sergio Aguero became the club's all-time top scorer with a decisive goal in a thrilling 4-2 victory at Napoli that put them into the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo played down talk of crisis at Real Madrid after the European and Spanish champions were trounced 3-1 on their Wembley debut against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Bayern Munich carved out a 1-0 win at CSKA Moscow on Tuesday thanks to Thomas Mueller's first-half penalty in the strangely muted atmosphere of a cold, damp and deserted Khimki Arena.
Arsenal teenager Bukayo Saka scored his first goal for the club as they beat 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0, while Manchester United's 17-year-old Mason Greenwood secured a 1-0 win over FC Astana as the Europa League group stage began on Thursday.
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