Basel struck a late winner to stun Bayern Munich at St. Jakob-Park on Wednesday, scoring a narrow victory to hold a 1-0 aggregate lead going into the second leg of the tie. In a game that entertained at first before fizzling out, Valentin Stocker came off the bench to score a crucial goal that now sets the tie up well, with Basel a draw away from clinching one of the eight quarterfinal berths in the UEFA Champions League.

Basel started in a 4-4-2 formation, playing Alexander Frei and Marco Streller in tandem in attack. Fabian Frei and Bayern bound Xherdan Shaqiri were deployed on the wings, with Granit Xhaka and Huggel holding fort in the centre of midfield. David Abraham and Alexsandar Dragovic formed the last line of defence in front of keeper Yann Sommer, with Markus Steinhofer and Joo-Ho Park starting as fullbacks.

Manchester City welcomed reigning Europa League champions FC Porto in the second leg of their round of 32 tie, looking to seal passage into the next round after their crucial away win in the first leg. The Citizens taught Porto a lesson in counter attacking football and emerged comfortable winners against their opponents, with their frontline banging in 4 goals.

Any hopes that Porto had of making early inroads were dashed within a minute as Sergio Aguero scored the quickest goal of the tournament to give his side the lead. Roberto Mancini’s men created a host of chances in the first half, but Porto somehow managed to cling on and keep the deficit to just one goal. However, with the visitors increasingly going forward, City were always expected to score on the counter and they did just that in the 77^th minute, with Edin Dzeko slotting home after being set up by Aguero to put the result beyond doubt, with Porto facing further misery as defender Rolando was sent off immediately afterwards for protesting.

A last-gasp equaliser from debutant Pontus Wernbloom denied Real Madrid an away win in the first leg of their last-16 tie against CSKA Moskow, the game at Luzhniki ending 1-1. Los Blancos, favourites to progress into the latter rounds, opened the scoring through Cristiano Ronaldo in the first period, but despite the strong position they are in now could have effectively sealed the tie with a second goal that they could not score. Instead it was Wernbloom, who was bought by CSKA only last month from Dutch side AZ, who scored a goal in injury time to give the hosts hope of overcoming the mighty Spanish outfit during the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky persisted with Seydou Doumbia upfront for the hosts, with a five-man midfield playing behind him. The likes of Ahmed Musa, Alan Dzegoev and ex-Manchester United player Zoran Tosic all made the lineup, Evgeni Aldonin partnering Wermbloom in the centre of midfield. Twins Aleksei and Vasili Berezutsky formed part of the four-man backline, along with Sergei Ignashevich and Georgy Shennikov.

An incredible 90 minutes of football at the Stadio San Paolo saw Napoli overcome Chelsea 3-1 in the 1st leg of the Round of 16 Champions League tie. It was an extremely open game as both sides attacked at will in the face of some abject defending. It was the English visitors who took the lead mid-way through the first half through Juan Mata, who scored against the run of play after Napoli had been the better team hitherto. But the Italians turned the game around with a brilliant spell at the end of the half as Ezequiel Lavezzi brought them level on 38 minutes before Edison Cavani scored in first half added time as Chelsea's defence crumbled.

The Blues had countless chances to draw level after the restart as they controlled possession. But their failure to take advantage of Napoli's weakness at the back came back to bite them as Lavezzi scored his 2nd of the day in the 65th minute to make it 3-1 to Napoli. Walter Mazzarri, the Napoli manager, was suspended from the dugout, but he would have been pleased with the result as his Napoli side are now firm favourites to progress into the quarter-finals.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Pep Guardiola has done an excellent job at Barcelona ever since he took over. In his four seasons in charge, Guardiola has managed 227 games and has guided his team to 164 wins and 44 draws, with just 19 losses. However, the Spaniard’s contract comes to an end in the summer and talks over an extension are yet to begin. Therefore, given his calibre and stature, questions are being asked from various quarters as to whether he will stay on as manager next season as well.

The manager himself seemed unsure when asked about his future with the Catalan giants and was quoted by ESPN a few days back as saying, “[I know that] to renew for three, five or six years would be more stable. But it is a personal matter - how I can best work. I have to feel it myself. I cannot work in a demanding club if I do not feel strongly to do things. I am still not clear. If the club has a deadline, I will talk and decide. In the meantime, I'll go day by day. I do not want to use the club. Right now I'd rather take a little longer. If they respect that, good. If not, too bad. I do not want to deceive myself - I have not made the decision. The club has every right to give me a deadline. I must thank both Zubi [sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta] and the president [Sandro Rosell]."

Russian moneybags Anzhi Makhachkala have secured a coup of sorts as they have appointed former Chelsea and Turkey manager Guus Hiddink as their manager. The club were believed to be courting Hiddink ever since Yury Krasnozhan resigned earlier this week and have acted swiftly to get the highly rated manager at the helm.

The length of the contract signed is one and a half years and apart from being the manager, Hiddink will also play the role of Vice-President of the club’s development.