Defending champion Liverpool was eliminated from the European Champions League when visiting Benfica won 2-0 Wednesday night and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The Portuguese team won the home-and-home, total-goals series on 3-0 aggregate.

Sabrosa Simao, who almost became a Liverpool player before the start of the season, scored in the 35th minute with a 20-yard shot and substitute Fabrizio Miccoli added a goal with two minutes left.

Peter Crouch and Jamie Carragher hit posts for Liverpool, which finished fifth in the Premier League last season and was allowed to defend its title only when the Union of European Football Associations put it in the first qualifying round last summer.

AC Milan, Arsenal and Lyon also advanced, joining Barcelona, Juventus and Villarreal. The final quarterfinalist will be determined when Internazionale of Milan hosts Ajax Amsterdam on March 14 following a 2-2 tie in the first leg.

Arsenal tied visiting Real Madrid 0-0 and advanced on 1-0 aggregate, while AC Milan won 4-1 at home over Bayern Munich to win the series 5-2. Lyon routed visiting PSV Eindhoven 4-0 to advance 5-0.

At Milan, Filippo Inzaghi scored in the eighth and 47th minutes, and the Italian team also got goals from Andriy Shevchenko in the 24th and Kaka in the 59th. Shevchenko has eight goals in eight European games this season.

Valerien Ismael scored for Bayern in the 35th.

At Lyon, Tiago scored in the 26th minute and first-half injury time, Sylvain Wiltord in the 71st minute and Fred in the 90th.

Editor: Donald