Champions League semis set

With Real Madrid almost a shoe-in for the semifinals thanks to their dominate first leg performance against APOEL Nicosia, the real question mark of Wednesday evening was Chelsea's match against Portuguese side Benfica.

Benfica opened the match brightly, attempting to take the game to Chelsea, who had earned a 1-0 victory in the first leg played in Lisbon. The Portuguese side got their first opportunity to even the aggregate score when they were awarded a corner in just the third minute.

However the resulting attempt on goal by Axel Witsel was blocked by England international Frank Lampard.

Benfica's prospects of advancing to the semifinals suffered a major setback, when the home side were awarded a penalty in the 21st minute. Benfica netminder Artur guessed right and came very close to stopping Lampard's low, well-struck shot to the ‘keeper's right.

Only once was Chelsea ‘keeper Petr Cech seriously tested in the first half, and then he had to be bailed out by defender John Terry, who cleared the ball of the line after a free kick.

Benfica were reduced to 10 men in the 40th minute when Maxi Pereira received a second yellow card after making a nasty slide tackle, which failed to connect with the ball, instead driving his studs into John Obi Mikel's ankle.

Despite being down 2-0 on aggregate, the plucky Portuguese returned to the pitch after the break determined to narrow the margin.

Their persistence paid off with five minutes to go, as Javi Garcia came in on a corner unmarked and sailed in front of Cech to head in a goal.

One more goal would have put Benfica through, but Chelsea dashed their hopes in the final minutes of injury time on a counterattack following a free kick. Raul Meireles took control of a deflection after the free kick and beat Artur for the final score, giving Chelsea a 2-1 win.

Chelseawill face Champions League title-holders Barcelona in the semifinal.

Real dominate Cypriot side

With a 3-0 win against APOEL Nicosia in the first leg, it was nearly certain that Real Madrid would advance to the semifinal after the second leg on Wednesday.

The Spanish side dominated the first half, pushing the ball around at will, and largely reducing the Cypriots to spectators, with possession breaking down more than 70 to 30 percent in favor of Real.

Cristiano Ronaldo nipped in at the far post for the tap-in after Gonzalo Higuain flicked on Marcelo's low cross, with the ball then skipping past a couple of Nicosia defenders, who had left the Real star unmarked.

In the 37th minute, Kaka scored a beautiful goal, striking the ball from about two meters outside the corner of the penalty area, sending it rising diagonally into the top-right corner. Nicosia ‘keeper Urko Pardo dove bravely but could do nothing more than admire the shot as it went past to put Real ahead 2-0.

This was Kaka's third goal of this Champions League campaign and he almost put away his fourth minutes later, but saw another long shot come back off the woodwork.

In the second half, Nicosia striker Gustavo Manduca showed Nicosia would not go down without a fight in the 67th minute, finishing a crisp string of passes to put his side on the board.

Real, not interested in having any egg on their faces should they concede a draw, came back aggressively, and Ronaldo scored again off a long free kick from the left side.

Five minutes after that, it was Jose Callejon, who expertly played the ball off his chest before taking a touch and scoring, putting Real up 4-1.

Nicosiagot one more goal off a penalty in the 82nd minute, as Esteban Solari coolly caught Real keeper Iker Casillas leaning the wrong way for the guests' second goal of the evening.

Two minutes later, Angel Di Maria scored one last time for Real for a final score of 5-2. Real advances on an 8-2 aggregate and will play Bayern Munich in the semifinal.

pfd,mz/slk (dpa, SID)