Chelsea have qualified for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League by defeating Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel’s side came into the game with an advantage after securing an away win following Olivier Giroud’s acrobatic goal in the first-leg.
The Blues put up a sturdy performance against Atletico who failed to turn up for the party in both legs and were rewarded earlier than the first-leg.
Morocco forward, Ziyech, gave Chelsea the lead in the 34th minute with his first goal since October to put the hosts in the driver’s seat.
Atletico suffered a setback in the 84th minute when they were reduced to 10-men after Stefan Savic was sent off for elbowing Antonio Rudiger in the stomach.
Super-sub, Emerson sealed the 2-0 win (3-0 aggregate) with a late strike to send the Blues into the last eight of the competition.
In the same vein, defending champions, Bayern Munich moved a step closer to retaining the Champions League with a 2-1 (6-1 aggregate) victory over Italian side, Lazio.
Having lost 4-1 in the first leg at home, Lazio managed to keep a clean sheet for over half an hour at the Allianz Arena but the German machines were not going to be denied their goal.
Robert Lewandowski gave the home side the lead by converting a 33-minute penalty to take his season’s goal tally to 39.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made it 2-0 in the 73rd minute with an adroit chip over former Bayern keeper, Pepe Reina.
Marco Parolo bagged a consolation for Simone Inzaghi’s side when he headed home an Andreas Pereira’s close-range free-kick in the 82nd minute.
Bayern better Barcelona’s tally of 18 Champions League quarter-final appearances since the competition was rebranded from the European Cup.
The Bavarians join Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Porto and Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
