A spectacular Olivier Giroud overhead kick has given Chelsea a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in their Champions League last-16 first leg in Bucharest.
In the 68th minute, the French striker broke the deadlock with an outrageous bicycle kick, which was flagged offside, but eventually given, after a long video review, as the ball had come off Atletico's Mario Hermoso before Giroud hit it.
Joao Felix had attempted an overhead effort earlier in the second half, but missed the target in one of few chances for Atletico, who were forced to play their home leg more than 3000 kilometres from Madrid, due to Spanish restrictions on arrivals from Britain to control the spread of COVID-19 infections.
Chelsea looked more likely to find a second goal than Atletico did, but Thomas Tuchel's side will be without Mason Mount and Jorginho in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on March 17, after they were booked and face suspension.
In the day's second tie, Robert Lewandowski has become the Champions League's third-top scorer of all time, as holders Bayern Munich put one foot in the quarter-finals with a 4-1 thrashing of Lazio in Rome.
The Polish striker pounced on a poorly judged back pass after nine minutes to steer in his 72nd goal in the competition.
In doing so, he surpassed former Real Madrid striker Raul in the competition scoring charts to reach a total only bettered by Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo with 134 goals, and Barcelona's Lionel Messi with 119.
Bayern's 17-year-old midfielder Jamal Musiala doubled their advantage with a well-taken strike that made him the youngest English player to score in the competition.
Leroy Sane tapped in a third before the break and a Francesco Acerbi own goal stretched the visitors' advantage early in the second half, but Joaquin Correa soon pulled one back for Lazio, whose unbeaten run in the competition came crashing to an end.
The result was an 18th consecutive match without defeat for Bayern in the Champions League, 17 of which have been victories, leaving the German champions in a dominant position before the second leg in Munich on March 17.
Reuters/Newshub.
