| Champions League Team Of The Last 16: First Leg |
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| GOALKEEPER |
Yann SOMMER
Basel
| Basel downed another European giant at St. Jakob-Park this season and Yann Sommer played an integral role in the triumph. The 23-year-old made a plethora of fine stops, including a double save on Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery to ensure that the Swiss underdogs take a 1-0 advantage to the Allianz Arena on March 13. |
| DEFENDERS |
| Markus STEINHOFER Basel |
Bakary KONE Lyon |
Paulo JORGE APOEL |
Tomas HUBOCAN Zenit |
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| Markus Steinhofer showed some nerves in the early going but recovered well as Basel continued their fairytale run in the competition by edging past Bayern. The German galloped forward to great effect in a performance that will have surely made coach Heiko Vogel proud. Lyon did just enough to avoid becoming APOEL's latest conquest in Europe thanks to Bakary Kone's performance. The defender, who recently returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, kept Ailton is his back pocket and did not give the Cypriots a sniff at goal in Lyon's 1-0 win. APOEL centre-back Paulo Jorge returned from injury to put in a courageous showing at the Stade de Gerland. The Portuguese made a goal-line clearance to keep his side in the game and was his team's emotional leader. Unlucky to be on the losing side. Tomas Hubocan put in an excellent shift in Zenit St. Petersburg's 3-2 success over Benfica. The Slovakia full-back was not afraid to bomb forward and he set up the Russian outfit's first goal with a pinpoint delivery to Roman Shirokov. |
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| MIDFIELDERS |
Roman SHIROKOV Zenit |
Kevin-Prince BOATENG AC Milan |
Andre AYEW Marseille |
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| Roman Shirokov pulled the strings in midfield for Zenit in their thrilling win over Benfica. The 30-year-old was the hero for Luciano Spalletti's side as he netted a double, including the go-ahead goal two minutes from time to give Zenit a slender advantage going into the second leg in Portugal. Kevin-Prince Boateng was a serious doubt in the build-up to the last-16 clash against Arsenal but he shook off a muscle injury and announced his presence with a stunning volley to give Milan the lead. The floodgates opened up after his goal and the Rossoneri never looked back en route to an impressive 4-0 victory. Andre Ayew was a non-factor for large periods of the match against Inter but stepped on the gas pedal late on to give Marseille a 1-0 advantage heading into the return leg against the Italians. The Ghana winger came to life in the last 15 minutes and beat Julio Cesar with a neat header in injury time to send the Stade Velodrome into raptures. |
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| FORWARDS |
Ezequiel LAVEZZI Napoli |
Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC AC Milan |
Alexis SANCHEZ Barcelona |
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| The Stadio San Paolo was rocking for Napoli's crunch clash with Chelsea and after a slow start Ezequiel Lavezzi gave the Partenopei faithful something to cheer about deep into the wee hours of the morning. The mercurial Argentine ran rampant and wild against the Blues, scoring the all-important equaliser before putting the icing on the cake with a second-half goal to give the Serie A outfit a 3-1 lead ahead of the second leg. 'Ibracadabra' weaved his magic against an overwhelmed Arsenal back line at San Siro. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was virtually unplayable and capped off a herculean showing with a goal from the penalty spot to all but kill off the tie ahead of the second leg at the Emirates on March 6. Likely Ibra's best showing in Europe. Alexis Sanchez was the star of the show in Barcelona's morale-boosting performance against Bayer Leverkusen. The Chile international kept his nerve to slot the ball past Bernd Leno for the opener before rounding the keeper after the interval for his second goal of the evening. A cultured display from Barca's big money-summer signing in the 3-1 triumph. |
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