Real Madrid and Chelsea look set to join Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals when they complete their last eight ties at home to APOEL Nicosia and Benfica respetively on Wednesday.
Barring what would be the greatest upset since European club soccer began in the 1950s, Real will advance and face Bayern after winning the first leg 3-0 in Cyprus last week.
Bayern reached the last four after their 2-0 win over Olympique Marseille on Tuesday at their Allianz Arena, which will stage the final, to complete a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Real coach Jose Mourinho, bidding to become the first man to lift the European Cup with three clubs after successes with Porto and Inter Milan, said he plans to field a strong side out of respect to APOEL, the first Cypriot side to make an impact in European club competition.
Chelsea also start as favourites to win their quarter-final against Benfica albeit with the tie more finely balanced, though the London side are in command after winning the first leg 1-0 in Lisbon last week.
Chelsea, who are set for their sixth semi-final appearance in the last nine seasons, will face holders Barcelona in the last four if they do see off their Portuguese opponents as expected.
Barca stayed on course to become the first team to lift the European Cup in successive seasons since AC Milan in 1990 when they beat the Italian side 3-1 at the Nou Camp on Tuesday after the first leg ended in a 0-0 draw.
Lionel Messi took his goal tally for the season to 58 with two first half penalties to set a Champions League scoring record of 13 – which he extended to 14 goals – in one season.
Messi breaks records
Barcelona's Lionel Messi set a Champions League scoring record when he took his tally to 14 in the competition so far this season as the holders knocked out AC Milan to reach the semi-finals on Tuesday.
The three-times World Player of the Year netted a penalty after 11 minutes, scored with a second spot kick just before the break and then helped to set up Barca's third goal for Andres Iniesta as they ran out 3-1 winners at the Nou Camp.
The Argentine passed the previous competition record of 12 goals set by himself last season and Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy with Manchester United in 2003.
It also made him the youngest player at 24 to pass the 50-goal mark in Europe's elite club competition as he moved on to 51.
While the debate rages around him as to whether he should be considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player of all time, Messi continues to notch up goals at a dizzying rate.
With two months of the season left to play, he has already amassed 58 goals in all competitions.
In stark contrast, his former team mate at Barcelona, Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had been touted as the main threat to Barca's progress on Tuesday, was left ranting about the referee.
The Milan players were fuming over Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers decision to penalise Alessandro Nesta for pulling Sergio Busquets's shirt at a corner for the second penalty.
"Barca don't need these things. They are the best team in the world," Swede Ibrahimovic, who left the club under a cloud in 2010, was quoted as saying in the Spanish media.
"I start to understand Jose Mourinho when he talks about what happens when you come here to play against them. Now I have seen it first hand and I understand it more and more."
Real Madrid coach Mourinho has accused Barca of getting preferential treatment from match officials in Europe.
Barca coach Pep Guardiola dismissed the idea there was any doubt over either penalty when asked about Ibrahimovic's comments.
"I have seen replays of both incidents and they were clear penalties," Guardiola said.
"Ibrahimovic wants to make friends with Mourinho, but it is now five times in a row we have made the semi-finals. We do our talking on the pitch."
