Chelsea, Roma, Schalke Advance to Quarterfinals

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Chelsea advanced to the quarterfinals of the European Champions League, beating Olympiakos 3-0 Wednesday night as Frank Lampard scored one goal and set up the others.

Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou also scored at Stamford Bridge, helping Chelsea win the home-and-home series on 3-0 aggregate and join Arsenal and Manchester United in the final eight. AS Roma won 2-1 at Real Madrid on goals by Rodrigo Taddei and Mirko Vucinic to win on 4-2 aggregate. Schalke lost 1-0 in overtime at Porto, leaving the aggregate 1-1, then won 4-1 on penalty kicks to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

Barcelona and Fenerbahce advanced Tuesday along with Arsenal and Manchester United. In the final quarterfinal, Liverpool goes to Internazionale of Milan next Tuesday with a 2-0 lead from the first leg. The quarterfinal draw is March 14.

At Chelsea, Ballack scored on a header from Lampard’s cross in the fifth minute, and Lampard knocked in a rebound in the 25th minute after goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis allowed a rebound on Ballack’s low, angled drive. Kalou scored from close three minutes into the second half.

At Madrid, Roma got a man advantage when Real defender Pepe was ejected in the 71st minute for a tackle on Mirko Vucinic. Taddei scored in the 73rd on a header, but Raul Gonzalez tied it off Robinho’s pass in the 75th. Vucinic scored in injury time. Real Madrid was missing Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, who were injured, and Sergio Ramos, who was suspended.

At Porto, Lisandro Lopez scored in the 86th minute—four minutes after teammate Jorge Fucile was ejected—to tie the aggregate. Lopez received the ball with his back to goal, swiveled and shot past goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.(source: yahoo/ap)