Berlin [Germany], March 21: Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane scored their 50th Champions League goals on Wednesday as Liverpool and Bayern Munich cruised into the quarter-finals along with classy Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Egypt's Salah missed a penalty but then found the top corner to become the first African player to reach the 50-goal milestone as Liverpool overturned a 1-0 first leg deficit with a 4-0 triumph at Anfield over Galatasaray in one of their best games of the season.
Kane scored a brace in Bayern's 4-1 over Atalanta to complete a 10-2 aggregate win.
Barcelona were not far off when they thrashed Newcastle United 7-2 for an overall 8-3 score, with captain Raphina getting two goals and assists apiece and Robert Lewandowski also claiming a brace.
Tottenham Hotspur put up a fight against Atletico and won 3-2 from Xavi Simons late penalty for a personal brace but exited 7-5 having lost 5-2 in Spain last week after a disastrous first half there.
Simons' spot kick was the 619th goal of the campaign, surpassing the previous record of 618 goals last season, UEFA said.
The results means that Liverpool and Arsenal are the only two of six Premier Leagues to progress as Chelsea and Manchester City went out on Tuesday, 8-2 against title holders Paris Saint-Germain and 5-1 record winners Real Madrid, respectively. Arsenal ousted Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 from two games.
The quarter-finals played April 7/8 and 14/15 are Real v Bayern, Atletico v Barcelona, PSG v Liverpool and Sporting v Arsenal.
Liverpool turn the tide
At Anfield, Liverpool levelled the tie against Galatasaray in the 25th when Dominik Szoboszlai drilled a low shot home from the edge of the area off Alexis Mac Allister's corner kick.
Gala keeper Ugurcan Cakır denied Salah, Mac Allister headed against the bar and a shot from Florian Wirtz was deflected over before Cakir also saved a tame penalty from Salah shortly before half-time.
But the Reds decided matters shortly after the break. Salah fed Hugo Ekitike in the 51st and Ryan Gravenberch drilled home for 3-0 two minutes later on the rebound of Cakir saving from Salah, who then also finally found the net himself with a curling shot in the 62nd.
"Everybody did a great job and ran for each other, which is why we won," Ekitike told TNT Sports. " "We deserve it. We're really happy.
We can be proud of ourselves and look forward to the quarter-finals."
Spurs fight in vain
Atletico had an early goal from Ademola Lookman disallowed for offside and Spurs then took control. Mathys Tel had an effort saved by Juan Musso but then crossed for Randal Kolo Muani to head the opener on the half-hour mark into the bottom left corner.
But Julian Alvarez fired the equalizer into the top corner two minutes after the restart for 1-1.
Spurs revived their hopes again from Simons' curling shot in the 52nd but the tie was effectively over as a contest when David Hancko headed into the near corner for 2-2 with 15 minutes left.
Simons' penalty in the 89th gave the final minutes some spice but more importantly it gave Spurs a first win the sixth match under new coach Igor Tudor which could boost them for a key weekend match Nottingham Forest in the Premier League lowlands and beyond.
Bayern complete job
Kane returned into the Bayern starting 11 from a calf injury and converted a penalty in the 25th on his second chance, after his first spot kick was saved but goalkeeper Marco Sportiello deemed to have left the goal-line too early.
He fired the second into the top corner in the 54th after turning around between two defenders to reach the 50-goal milestone.
Youngster Lennart Karl, reportedly set for his first Germany call-up on Thursday, and Luis Diaz were also on target before Lazar Samardzic headed a late consolation goal.
Looking ahead, Kane told streaming portal DAZN: "It will be tough against Real. Whenever you face Real in the Champions League you must always be ready for a fight. But we don't fear anyone."
Source: Qatar Tribune
