Benfica and Villarreal will join six other teams on Friday, March 18 at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland for the quarter final draw
By Kehinde Okeowo
The midweek second leg matches of this year’s UEFA Champions League saw four more teams join the initial qualifiers, who booked their places a week earlier
Last week, Bayern Munich cruised past FC Salzburg, Liverpool progressed despite a shock home loss to Inter Milan, Man City dispatched Sporting Lisbon, while Real Madrid came from behind to qualify ahead of Paris St Germain.
A week after, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea qualified as expected while two teams, Benfica and Villarreal knocked out their more illustrious opponents, Ajax and Juventus respectively.
Outside Benfica and Villarreal’s giant-killing feats, all other teams either qualified as predicted by pundits or narrowly edged out another evenly balanced side, as was the case in – Atletico against United and Real Madrid’s clash with Paris St. Germain.
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However, nobody gave Benfica a chance against four-time champions, Ajax, nor did anyone forecast La Liga’s Villarreal second-leg thrashing of Italian Giant Juventus.
Ajax were knocked out on a 1-2 aggregate scoreline while, Europa League Champions, Villarreal did not just edge past the Serie A giant, they scored three unanswered goals away to Juventus and progressed on 4-1 aggregate.
Dutch champions Ajax qualified from the group stages with the maximum 18 points, winning all their matches home and away. Though it is noteworthy to state that Benfica dumped Barcelona into the Europa league.
Juventus on the other hand, qualified ahead of Chelsea in Group H, while Villarreal came second behind Man United who were eliminated after losing 1-0 at Old Trafford to Atletico Madrid.
Having shown what they are capable of against bigger opponents, other European giants will be wary of Villarreal and Benfica as the draw for the round of 8, which takes place on Friday, March 18 at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
