Champions League Results 2014: Major Developments from Early Round of 16 Action

The first leg of the Champions League round of 16 is out of the way, and there were few surprises to be had.

Coincidentally enough, it paid to be the road team, as only one of the eight clubs playing at home won over the two weeks. That's served to make the second leg rather predictable. Only Manchester United and Chelsea have a real chance of heading through to the quarterfinals after failing to win in the first leg.

Although the first legs of the round of 16 generally went according to plan, they did reveal some of the larger storylines still at play in the Champions League.

Here's a look the results from the first leg in the round of 16.

Home	Result	Away
Feb. 18
Manchester City	0-2	Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen	0-4	Paris Saint-Germain
Feb. 19
Arsenal	0-2	Bayern Munich
AC Milan	0-1	Atletico Madrid
Feb. 25
Zenit St. Petersburg	2-4	Borussia Dortmund
Olympiacos	2-0	Manchester United
Feb. 26
Galatasaray	1-1	Chelsea
Schalke	1-6	Real Madrid

Borussia Dortmund Are Immune From Their League Form

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Although Borussia Dortmund are third in the Bundesliga table, they're 20 points off Bayern Munich. They came into their Champions League fixture against Zenit St. Petersburg fresh off a 3-0 loss to Hamburg, who are mired in the relegation zone.

If Zenit were to pull the upset, now would be the time.

The Russians dropped the ball. With a 4-2 defeat in the Petrovsky Stadium, they have left almost no way back. Borussia were lethal on the counter-attack. In particular, Robert Lewandowski's goals in the 61st and 71st minute were hammer blows for Zenit.

Jurgen Klopp praised his squad after the match and thought the Hamburg match only served to fuel the players' desire on Tuesday, per UEFA.com:

"

We were close to an optimum performance. We showed great pressing and counterpressing against a really talented team. My team had their moments; it was classy display, no doubt about that. My team are not known to lack character, so it was clear that it would be easy to motivate the boys after the 3-0 defeat at Hamburg [on Saturday] and that they would show something.

"

Although Dortmund are no longer a threat for the Bundesliga title, they are more than prepared for another run to the Champions League final. The attack is hitting on all cylinders, and Klopp is beginning to get something resembling a first-choice back four again.

Manchester United Aren't

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The same can't be said for Manchester United.

Olympiacos were as good as the Red Devils could have hoped to draw in the round of 16. Despite its domestic success, the Greek side has always struggled in the Champions League knockout stages. Not to mention, Olympiacos sold one of their best players—Kostas Mitroglou—during the January transfer window.

Surely this presented David Moyes a golden opportunity to save some face and at least advance to the quarterfinals.

At this point, why should we be surprised that it failed spectacularly for Moyes? Each and every week, United find a way to dig the hole deeper. Losing 2-0 to Olympiacos may be the nadir, though.

"I take responsibility. It's my team and I always front up," said Moyes, per BBC Sport. "It was a really poor performance. We never really got going and we didn't deserve anything."

Everybody can see that Manchester United have problems, especially at the back, as Rio Ferdinand was a statue. The problem is that Moyes can't get the club to play above its current talent level, as Sir Alex Ferguson could.

Many are wondering if the manager's future is in jeopardy, especially as the club's stock could see a major hit upon an exit in the round of 16 and subsequent failure to qualify for the 2014/15 Champions League, per Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph:

The summer can't come soon enough.

Spanish Clubs Sitting Pretty

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While the Premier League is wallowing in Europe, La Liga saw all three of its clubs win in the round of 16. Real Madrid thrashed Schalke, 6-1, in the Veltins-Arena; Barcelona beat 10-man Manchester City, 2-0, in the Etihad Stadium; and Atletico Madrid left the San Siro with a 1-0 victory over AC Milan.

You'd favor all three sides to go through, with Atletico the only question mark. They seem to be slowing down in the league, with a 2-0 loss to Almeria and 3-0 loss to Osasuna coming within a month of one another.

This could be the result of Atletico focusing more on the Champions League, to the detriment of their league fixtures.

Either way, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Diego Simeone's side can make a run to the final like Dortmund did last year.

Barcelona and Real Madrid will be the more favored sides, though. Madrid are really hitting their stride, while you can never count out Barca too much.

Don't be surprised to see one or possibly two Spanish teams in the final.