And the favorites continue on!

Well, it was never in any real doubt, but Chelsea and Real Madrid made it into the Semi-Final stage of the Champions League after straight-forward results for both sides. The Blues had to contend with a tenacious Benfica side who fought on despite being down a man after captain Maxi Pereira was sent off in the 40th minute. Frank Lampard gave Chelsea further advantage in the 21st minute after converting from the penalty spot. However, alarmingly for the English side, that was their only goal of the 1st half! Benfica's Javi Garcia brought the Portuguese side one back in the 85th minute though Raul Meireles sunk them completely with his 2nd minute of stoppage time goal in the 2nd half. Meanwhile, in Madrid, Spain the home side had their way with the visiting Cypriots of APOEL as the final scoreline illustrates: 5-2 for an aggregate score of 8-2! Cristiano Ronaldo got the ball rolling in the 26th minute with his first goal while Kaka made it 2-0 in the 37th minute. That was all for the 1st half while APOEL actually got things going again in the 2nd half with Gustavo Manduca Ronaldo bringing the underdogs one back. It wasn't to be though as Cristiano Ronaldo again leading the charge for Real - a 75th minute strike for the home side effectively finalized the result. Yes, Esteban Solari converted his penalty opportunity in the 82nd minute but Jose Callejon and Angel Di Maria scored on either side of this effort to make it 5-2 when the final whistle blew. All respect to the Portuguese and Cypriot sides, but they were very hard-pressed to challenge the likes of such titans as Chelsea and Real Madrid. Maybe next year!