Chelsea manager Avram Grant and his Schalke 04 counterpart Mirko Slomka can sleep a little easier after both their sides reached the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Grant -- who has been under fire for his selection policy at the League Cup final defeat by Spurs which saw the Blues produce an insipid display -- was never in trouble on Wednesday as Chelsea breezed to a 3-0 win over Greek side Olympiakos to win 3-0 on aggregate.
While Grant has not been publicly criticized by his club owner Roman Abramovich -- the two are close friends -- Slomka has not been so lucky, with club president Josef Schnusenberg being his biggest critic.
PHOTO: AP
However Schalke's penalty shootout victory over former champions Porto in Oporto -- the match ending 1-1 on aggregate after the hosts scored in the dying minutes to win the second leg -- and making the last eight of the competition for the first time in their history will earn Slomka some breathing space.
However, Schalke apart from heroics by 21-year-old keeper Manuel Neuer, will have earned few new friends as their negativity in extra time against 10-man Porto was in stark contrast to the attacking soccer of the 2004 Champions League winners.
However, while Grant and Slomka won a reprieve, a pall was cast over Real Madrid's German handler Bernd Schuster as the nine-time champions, reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute when Pepe was sent-off, lost 2-1 at home to AS Roma and 4-2 on aggregate.
It was the fourth successive season that the Meringues have failed to make the last eight and leaves just Barcelona to fly the Spanish flag in the quarter-finals after Sevilla crashed out on Tuesday night.
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