Paris St Germain and Real Madrid took big steps towards the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday as the French club beat Chelsea 3-1 and the Spaniards dismantled Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in the quarterfinal first legs.
PSG opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes after four minutes when John Terry's headed clearance fell to Ezequiel Lavezzi and the Argentine forward thumped a half-volley past Petr Cech.
Eden Hazard grabbed a crucial away goal for the visitors from the penalty spot after 27 minutes after Brazilian defender Thiago Silva fouled compatriot Oscar.
PSG restored their advantage on 61 minutes, however, thanks to a David Luiz own goal before Javier Pastore waltzed into the area and fired a shot past Cech at his near post in stoppage time.
Real flew out of the traps against Dortmund and took the lead on three minutes when Gareth Bale collected Daniel Carvajal's pass and poked the ball under goalkeeper Weidenfeller.
Carlo Ancelotti's side continued to swarm all over last season's beaten finalists and Isco's precise strike from the edge of the box doubled Real's advantage on 27 minutes.
The fleet-footed Cristiano Ronaldo added a third on 57 minutes as he skipped round Weidenfeller to give Real a comfortable cushion and equal Lionel Messi's record of 14 goals in the competition in one season.
The tie here seemed to be poised at the beginning of injury time but Pastore's brilliant individual goal in injury time has made the French side the favourites to reach the last four.
The Argentine, on as a late substitute, cut in from the byline, evading a number of Chelsea defenders before beating keeper Petr Cech at his near post.
It prompted incredulous Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to label the goal "a joke" in his post-game news conference.
PSG, boosted by an inspired display from another Argentine – Lavezzi – could be without talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic for next week's return at Stamford Bridge after the Swede trudged off clutching his right thigh 20 minutes from time.
Ibrahimovic was substituted minutes after Luiz had turned into his own net from a freekick to put PSG 2-1 up.
"He felt some pain in his muscle, we'll check in detail tomorrow. It's an injury that will require some time of rest," PSG coach Laurent Blanc told French TV.
PSG went ahead in the fourth minute when Lavezzi shot high into the roof off the net after controlling a weak Terry clearance.
"I think from a strategic point of view the team showed great discipline," Mourinho, whose team are second in the Premier League, said.
"But we made defensive mistakes so we paid the price."
Ibrahimovic, who has scored 10 goals in the competition this season but has yet to win the tournament, was unusually quiet with the Sweden striker outshone by the impressive Lavezzi.
Emphatic win
Real closed in on the last four with an emphatic victory oas the nine-times winners avenged last season's humiliating loss to the Bundesliga side in style.
Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the record for most goals in the tournament in one season with his 14th, while Bale and Isco also scored as Real steamrollered the team who beat them 4-1 in Dortmund in the first leg of last term's semifinal before going through 4-3 on aggregate.
"I am very pleased with the match and the result," Ancelotti told reporters before warning that Dortmund, who squandered several chances in the second period, remained a threat.
"We used up a lot of energy in the first half to keep up the intensity and then we held back in the second and tried to counter attack," added the Italian.
Ronaldo notched his 14th goal in eight Champions League games this season 12 minutes after half-time, matching a record for Europe's elite club competition jointly held by Barcelona's Lionel Messi and former AC Milan forward Jose Altafini.
It was the Portugal forward's 100th Champions League appearance and the goal, when he picked up a Luka Modric pass and clipped the ball into the net from close range, took his overall tally to 64.
"We conceded the goals, we were not compact enough and left big spaces between the lines, as big as I have ever seen them. The goal came early and that did not help, although you expect Real to score at home," Klopp told ZDF.
The return leg is next Tuesday.