World Football's Champions League Hangover: The Elite Eight Looks Pretty Great

Welcome to world football's Champions League Hangover, an homage to the NFL section's Monday Morning Hangover, where we round up the key stories and important points from the last round of Champions League fixtures. Let's get started.

The English Retreat

And then there were just eight. As March Madness prepares to get underway on one side of the Atlantic, the Champions League is already down to the quarter-finals—the "Elite Eight"—with some big sides already out of the competition, and a few even bigger ones starting to find a real rhythm.

The big sides out of the competition are, to a greater or lesser extent, all English. There are no Premier League representatives in the final stages of the competition, after both Arsenal and Manchester City went out in the preferred manner of all British sides ("bravely") this week.

Arsenal perhaps have more regrets to foster, especially considering the way they dominated Monaco in Tuesday's second leg. The 2-0 away win could and perhaps should have been by an even larger margin (which would have seen them through to the next round), but it only underlined the self-inflicted nature of their home-leg capitulation.

The Gunners might be picking through the positives of their valiant attempt to recover in the second leg, but they should be under no illusions that, with perhaps only one or two exceptions, every other team left in the competition will be eyeing up Monaco as an ideal opponent to come out in Friday's quarter-final draw.

"I felt the performance was enough tonight, but it was a very difficult task," Arsene Wenger told the Arsenal website. "At half-time, the game could have been over with the chances we created, overall we pay that in the first game we did not produce the performance we wanted. Monaco played at home, have zero shots on target and yet go to the quarter-final.

Wenger added, "I am very disappointed to go out tonight of course, but there are lots of positive in the game. The overall situation is disappointing."

Manchester City also had a first-leg deficit to overcome, but their task was always going to be a lot tougher. They were schooled by Barcelona (and Lionel Messi in particular) for almost the entire tie, yet if Sergio Aguero had managed to convert a late penalty at the Nou Camp, Manuel Pellegrini's side might have been able to pull off a remarkable (and undeserved) escape.

As it was, Javier Mascherano used his national-team insight to tell his goalkeeper, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, which way Aguero was likely to shoot, and Barcelona cruised to victory despite some heroics from Joe Hart.

The result probably means the end for Pellegrini, barring a huge turnaround in the Premier League. The Chilean saw reasons behind another disappointing European exit.

"This year we have just some important restrictions especially to bring important players, we didn't reinforce our squad so good as much as other teams," Pellegrini offered, by way of explanation, per the Guardian.

Barcelona, meanwhile, look to be hitting top gear—with Messi growing into a better and better all-round forward. He did not score at any point during either leg, but his influence overall was undeniable. He dictated things completely.

As Luis Enrique said, per Barcelona's official site:

"

It was a special night, very positive for the team and for the fans. We achieved our objective, which was to win the game and move into the next round.

When a team like City are down and decide to take risks, and have just three back on defence against a team like ours, we have to close out the game. ...

... I applaud all the players who played and all those who didn't. It is a day that Barca fans should celebrate.

"

Even Pep Guardiola, now Bayern Munich's manager, seemed to enjoy watching his old team.

"

The best part of Messi nutmegging Milner: Pep Guardiola's reaction in the stands. | Barça 1-0 (3-1) City | HT pic.twitter.com/mvHRUEE1n7

— Liviu Bird (@liviubird) March 18, 2015"

It will be disappointing if the two teams are drawn together before the final (or at least the semi-finals)—at this point they seem to be the class of the field.

The elite eight was rounded out by Barcelona's kryptonite—Atletico Madrid—and Juventus. Both teams showed resolve and quality in their victories over Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund respectively, although Atletico needed penalties to finally see off their German opponents.

Nevertheless, they are both worthy quarter-finalists. The Champions League has no shortage of quality at this stage, regardless of the lack of English participation.

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Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Champions League last-16 results

Tuesday

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen
(1-1 on aggregate—Atletico Madrid win on penalties)

Monaco 0-2 Arsenal
(3-3 on aggregate—Monaco win on away goals)

Wednesday

Barcelona 1-0 Manchester City
(Barcelona win 3-1 on aggregate)

Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Juventus
(Juventus win 5-1 on aggregate)

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Video Reaction

Michael Steele/Getty Images

Random Asides

• In the end, what was perhaps the best performance of Joe Hart's career merely meant that Manchester City went out with a certain amount of respect intact. This is not how it is supposed to be for a goalkeeper—their shining moments are supposed to win games their teams looked certain to lose, not soften the inevitable—but that is the case nonetheless. Still, at least Hart perhaps grew his reputation on the continent somewhat.

• Arsenal, like Olivier Giroud, were just not quite good enough. If the Frenchman had taken one more of the (many) presentable chances he was given—in either leg!—the Gunners would be into the next round. But they're not, and the suspicion continues to linger (even as the Frenchman scores at a fair rate in the league) that they will not make that next step until they find a truly world-class striker.

• If Bayer Leverkusen had snuck through against Atletico, perhaps they would have been the runt left in the litter. As it is, it is Porto. The Portuguese side have their qualities, and their quality players, but nonetheless they remain the one team everyone else in the competition will be hoping to draw on Friday. A close-ish second? Monaco. The two sides will perhaps be secretly hoping to draw each other, in a re-enactment of the 2004 Champions League final. That way, at least one of them will emulate that period and reach the semi-finals...

• It will be interesting to see how Juventus fare against a European heavyweight, should they be drawn with one in the next round. After a few years of being unable to reach this stage of the competition, Juve would seem, on paper at least, to have the quality of players and tactical structure to give even the best sides a decent game. Beyond perhaps Bayern Munich and the Madrid sides, there is perhaps no team the Old Lady should now fear.

• Away goals are once again a subject of discussion, after another team (Arsenal) were eliminated by that means this week. The tiebreaker might be controversial in some quarters, but there seems to be no obvious need to amend it. Apart from perhaps in one way: Away goals should not count after extra-time. So, for example, last week's game between Chelsea and PSG would have gone to penalties if that amendment was in place. Why should the away team get an extra 30 minutes to score a goal that is (nearly) worth double?

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Good week, bad week

Good week

Lionel Messi: Dominant, destructive...he tormented (supposedly) the Premier League's second-best side.

Joe Hart: Did his reputation no harm, even if his team-mates failed to rise to his level.

Pep Guardiola: Back at the Camp Nou to watch his old team, and clearly he enjoyed it.

Massimiliano Allegri: Helping Juventus back into Europe's elite for the first time in a while.

Bad week

Manuel Pellegrini: Unlike Laurent Blanc, no comeback almost surely means no job next season.

Arsenal: Valiant in defeat, but performance in Monaco only underlined how much better they should have been in London.

Stefan Kiessling: Never nice to be the guy who ends up missing the decisive penalty.

English football: Out of the competition before the quarter-finals. Begin the inquiry.