The first leg of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 is now complete with away teams dominating the opening eight matches.
Six teams on the road recorded victories in the first knockout phase of Europe's premier club competition which has two games evenly poised, another three that could possibly go either way and three which are basically wrapped up after the first leg.
On Wednesday night, Spanish giants Real Madrid asserted their authority on the competition by beating German side Schalke 6-1 in Gelsenkirchen.
Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo all scored braces as Carlo Ancelotti's los Blancos all but booked their spot in the quarter-finals with a commanding display at the Veltins-Arena.
The other standout victory came last week when French behemoths Paris Saint-Germain hammered Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 at the BayArena courtesy of a double from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
However, it wasn't all doom and gloom for German clubs as reigning champions Bayern Munich managed to get the better of ten-man Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium with second-half goals from Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller breaking down the Gunners' resistance.
Last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund also got off to winning ways with a 4-2 triumph over Zenit Saint Petersburg at the Petrovsky Stadium thanks to a Robert Lewandowski brace.
Catalan powerhouse Barcelona had a similar result to Bayern, beating Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium, after the home side had a player sent off allowing Lionel Messi to open the scoring from the penalty spot before Dani Alves added a late second.
Last week, fellow Spaniards Atletico Madrid edged AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro thanks to a late goal from star striker Diego Costa.
In Turkey on Wednesday night, Galatasaray and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw in front of a fervent crowd at the Turk Telekom Arena while the upset of the first leg fixtures came on Tuesday night when Greek champions Olympiakos defeated Manchester United 2-0 at the Karaiskakis Stadium in the Athens port city of Piraeus.
The second leg clashes between Atletico and Milan, and Bayern and Arsenal, will take place on March 11 with Barcelona v City and PSG v Bayer to be played on March 12.
The following week, Chelsea will host Galatasaray as Schalke head to Madrid already five goals in arrears on March 18.
March 19 sees United try to turn around their two-goal deficit when Olympiakos visit Old Trafford whilst Dortmund host Zenit.
2013/14 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 - first leg scores
Manchester City (ENG): 0 (red car: Martin Demichelis 53') Barcelona (SPN): 2 (Lionel Messi (p) 54', Dani Alves 90') Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England - 46,033
Bayer Leverkusen (GER): 0 (red card: Emir Spahic 59') Paris Saint-Germain (FRA): 4 (Blaise Matuidi 3', Zlatan Ibrahimovic (p) 39'/42', Yohan Cabaye 88') BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany - 29,412
AC Milan (ITA): 0 Atletico Madrid (SPN): 1 (Diego Costa 83') San Siro, Milan, Italy - 65,890
Arsenal (ENG): 0 (red card: Wojciech Szczesny 37') Bayern Munich (GER): 2 (Toni Kroos 54', Thomas Muller 88') Emirates Stadium, London, England - 59,911
Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS): 2 (Oleg Shatov 57', Hulk (p) 69') Borussia Dortmund (GER): 4 (Henrikh Mkihtaryan 4', Marco Reus 5', Robert Lewandowski 61'/71') Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia - 15,099
Olympiakos (GRE): 2 (Alejandro Dominguez 38', Joel Campbell 55') Manchester United (ENG): 0 Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens, Greece - 29,815
Galatasaray (TUR): 1 (Aurelien Chedjou 65') Chelsea (ENG): 1 (Fernando Torres 9') Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul, Turkey - 49,194
Schalke (GER): (Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 90+1') Real Madrid (SPN): 6 (Karim Benzema 13'/57', Gareth Bale 21'/69', Cristiano Ronaldo 52'/89') Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany - 54,442
