Manchester United and Barcelona progress with ease

Manchester United and Barcelona progress with easeHamburg  - Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored as Manchester United booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Inter Milan Wednesday, while a brace from Thierry Henry helped Barcelona past Olympique Lyon.

Arsenal needed penalties to make to the next round at the expense of Roma and Porto progressed via the away goals rule after their scoreless draw with Atletico Madrid left the tie level at 2-2 on aggregate.

With the tie finely poised at 0-0 after the first leg in Milan, Vidic gave United the perfect start against Jose Mourinho's Serie A champions, rising virtually unchallenged to head home a Michael Carrick corner after just four minutes.

Inter came into the game as the half progressed with a bouncing Zlatan Ibrahimovic header clipping the bar and Edwin van der Sar pushing away a strong Dejan Stankovic right-foot shot.

United wrestled back control of tie on 49 minutes, however, when Ronaldo got on the end of a Wayne Rooney cross to register his first Champions League goal since scoring in last season's final against Chelsea in Moscow.

Substitute Adriano hit a post for Inter as the Italians looked to reduce the deficit while Dimitar Berbatov saw his gilt-edged effort well saved by Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who also denied John O'Shea.

However, the score remained at 2-0 as United held on to progress by the same score on aggregate and book their place in the last eight of the competition for a record
10th time.

"I think we played well in the first-leg. In the second game we started very well, then made some mistakes," United coach Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky TV.

"We were lucky when Ibrahimovic hit the bar and Stankovic failed to convert his shot."

Henry scored twice as Barcelona beat Lyon 5-2 to progress to the next round 6-3 on aggregate.

The Spanish league leaders raced into a four-goal lead by half- time as a wonder goal from Lionel Messi and a fierce Samuel Eto'o strike added to Henry's early brace.

However, a Jean Makoun header and a simple strike from Juninho following a subtle dummy from Karim Benzema briefly gave Lyon hope, but any hopes of a miracle comeback ended when Juninho got his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card.

Barca took full advantage of the extra man, making it 5-2 shortly before full time when Seydou Keita latched on to a Xavi pass before rounding Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and slotting home.

Arsenal went the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, host venue for this year's final, holding a slender 1-0 lead from the first-leg but Roma levelled the tie after just nine minutes when Juan steered a Francesco Totti cross home at the far post.

The remainder of regulation time and a further 30 minutes of extra-time was unable to produce another goal so the match had to be decided on penalties with the Gunners prevailing 7-6 after Max Tonetto failed to convert his spot kick.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Villarreal and Bayern Munich all booked their places in the quarter-finals on Tuesday while the draw takes place on Friday. dpa

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