Holders Liverpool bow out but Arsenal advance

Champions League round-up:   Holders Liverpool paid heavily for early missed chances at Anfield when a 2-0 home defeat by Benfica…

Champions League round-up:  Holders Liverpool paid heavily for early missed chances at Anfield when a 2-0 home defeat by Benfica sent them tumbling out of the Champions  League on a 3-0 aggregate scoreline.

Midfielder Simao Sabrosa scored a stunning goal after 36 minutes to put the Portuguese club 2-0 ahead over the two legs and leave Liverpool requiring three goals to reach the quarter-finals.

Peter Crouch and Jamie Carragher both struck the woodwork for Liverpool, who came from 3-0 down to win last year's final against AC Milan, while Crouch and Xabi Alonso were denied by fine saves from Benfica goalkeeper Marcelo Moretto.

Liverpool became increasingly desperate after the break and their hopes were finally extinguished when Fabrizio Miccoli scored acrobatically for the visitors in the 89th minute.

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Arsenal knocked nine-times winners Real Madrid out of the competition after a goalless Highbury draw was enough to send the Londoners into the quarter-finals 1-0 on aggregate.

Arsenal dominated the first half but failed to take their chances, the best falling to Jose Antonio Reyes who fired against the bar in the 43rd minute with the goal gaping.

Real, as badly off the pace in the first period as they had been in the first leg, injected some pace after the break and went agonisingly close on the hour when Raul smacked a half-volley against a post then saw home keeper Jens Lehmann somehow claw his follow-up past the upright.

Thierry Henry, scorer of the only goal in the Bernabeu, twice went close in the last 20 minutes as both teams threw men forward in increasing desperation but neither could find the net, much to Arsenal's satisfaction.

Filippo Inzaghi struck twice as AC Milan crushed Bayern Munich 4-1. He put the Italians on their way to a 5-2 aggregate win after just eight minutes with a header at the back post from a whipped cross by Brazilian winger Serginho.

Shortly after missing a penalty, Andriy Shevchenko made it 2-0 for Milan in the 25th minute with a beautifully angled header from a Jaap Stam cross.

Bayern got back into the game in the 36th minute after Milan's Brazilian keeper Dida failed to hold on to Bastian Schweinsteiger's long range free kick and Valerien Ismael reacted quickly to drive home the loose ball.

But two minutes after the break Milan, six-times European champions, put the game beyond the Germans with Inzaghi's second goal, his 50th in European club competition, before Kaka made it 4-1 with a confident finish just before the hour.

Tiago's first-half double inspired Olympique Lyon to a 4-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven. The French champions, leading 1-0 after the first leg, qualified for the quarter-finals 5-0 on aggregate.

Tiago, the former Chelsea player, netted from close range after 26 minutes and made it 2-0 just before the break.  Sylvain Wiltord made it 3-0 after 72 minutes before substitute Fred completed the rout.

PSV played the second half with 10 men after captain Phillip Cocu was shown the red card for a second bookable offence in the 43rd minute.