Giroud glee, history made: best of matchday six

Player: Olivier Giroud (Arsenal)
Arsenal were one of five teams to lose their first two group matches this season – but unlike Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Malmö and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, the Gunners are in Monday's round of 16 draw. That they are is thanks to Giroud picking just the right moment to hit his first hat-trick for the club.

Not only did Arsenal need to win at Olympiacos in Group F on Wednesday; 1-0 and 2-1 victories were not enough for the visitors. Giroud struck on 29 minutes and then, just after it seemed his game may have been ended by injury, he scored again on 49 minutes, later completing his treble with an emphatic penalty. Now Giroud has a new target: "We want to go as far as we can. The target is to maybe reach at least the quarter-finals. It's the fourth year I have been here and we have never played in a quarter-final."

Team: Dynamo Kyiv
Ever since a side including Serhiy Rebrov contested the second group stage in 1999/2000, Dynamo had failed to make it out of their section ten times in a row – an unwanted UEFA Champions League record. But with Rebrov at the helm, they made it this season, following up their crucial 2-0 triumph in Porto with a 1-0 defeat of Maccabi Tel-Aviv that left them second in Group G ahead of the 2004 champions.

Rebrov admitted there had been nerves. "We felt great pressure because our fate in this tournament depended on the result of one last match," the Dynamo coach said. "Qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage for the first time in 16 years is an enormous success for us. I think very few people believed in us after that tough draw."

Result: Gent 2-1 Zenit
If Dynamo had a frustrating UEFA Champions League record of late, Belgium's perhaps outdid it. Up until this season they had been represented 19 times in the group stage and never had a team make it to the knockouts (though in 1999/2000 Anderlecht did progress from their pool, departing in the old second group stage).

But the 20th Belgian campaign, by debutants Gent, put that right. Having only lifted their first league title last term, the Buffalos managed just a single point from their opening three Group H fixtures. However, consecutive wins against Valencia, Lyon and then Zenit – who had not previously dropped a point – clinched Gent's place in the round of 16.

Records: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
It's as well to check in occasionally to chart which new peaks the prolific Portuguese penalty-box prowler has scaled. On Tuesday he plundered four goals in a UEFA Champions League match for the first time for a competition record-equalling 8-0 victory over Malmö. That took Ronaldo to 11 group goals, two clear of the best he previously shared with Luiz Adriano. He record tally of UEFA Champions League strikes is now 88, or 91 in all UEFA club compeitions. Oh, and Karim Benzema also notched three against Malmö, the first time two players have claimed hat-tricks in the same UEFA Champions League game.

Number: 10
For the first time, ten different nations are represented in the round of 16: Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands (after a nine-year absence), Portugal, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.

Quote: "I'm shocked we didn't manage to win this game. The fact BATE drew in Rome makes it a tragedy for us"
Bayer Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt in understated style after dominating Barcelona only to draw 1-1 and miss out on the chance of pipping Roma to the round of 16.

Photo: Maicon (Porto)
The crucial moment as Maicon just fails to stop Iván Marcano's deflection going in for an own goal that set Chelsea on their way to a 2-0 success that eliminated Porto.

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