Europa League: Portuguese clubs eliminated, Arsenal and Ajax too ...

2020-02-28T05:45:26.576Z

These 16th round of returns have been terrible for the Portuguese clubs still in the running. Braga, Sporting and Benfica were thus eliminated. However, it was easy for Manchester United, ruthless against Bruges, but also for Roma, Inter Milan and Sevilla FC.

These return matches have kept their promise with several nice surprises! Manchester United and Inter validated their tickets for the round of 16. The big losers are Ajax, defeated by Getafe and Arsenal, eliminated at the end of the suspense by Olympiakos. Arsenal thought they held their qualification when, in the 113th minute, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signed a splendid chisel allowing the Gunners to extricate themselves from the trap set by an eye-catching Olympiakos. The Greeks had managed to raise the goal of delay conceded in the first leg thanks to Pape Cissé (53 '). But a minute before the end of the overtime, Youssef El-Arabi appeared to offer an unexpected 8th place to the men of Piraeus.

Manchester in an armchair

Manchester had a much quieter evening, easy winner of Bruges reduced to 10 after the voluntary hand of Deli. Large 5-0 victory thanks to Bruno Fernandes (27th), Ighalo (35th), McTominay (41st) and Fred (82nd, 90th + 3) for the Red Devils. Ajax believed it, but the semi-finalists of the last Champions League bowed to Getafe. Crucified from the 5th minute by Mata, the Dutch chased after the score the whole match, despite a quick equalization (Pereira 10th) and the goal of hope counter-camp of Oliveira (63rd). The 2-0 first leg loss is too heavy and costs elimination. In camera due to coronavirus, Inter qualified by winning 2-1 thanks to Biraghi (32nd) and a lucky goal from Lukaku (45th + 4). Manhandled, AS Rome assured the bare minimum: a 1-1 draw synonymous with qualification at La Gantoise, with a goal by Justin Kluivert (29th) responding to the opening score of Jonathan David (25th).

Seville got scared

The evening was particularly bad for the Portuguese clubs. Beaten 2-1 at Leverkusen in the first leg, FC Porto fell at home. The Germans quickly calmed the heat of the Dragons with the opening of the early score of Lucas Alario (10th). Kerem Demirbay (50th) and Kai Havertz (57th) ensured the success of the visitors before Moussa Marega saved the honor (65th). For Sporting players the fate is even more cruel. Winners 3-1 in Lisbon on the first leg against Basaksehir, they lost by the same score in regulation time, conceding the third goal of the Turks in the 91st minute. And it was at the very end of the overtime that the captain of Istanbul, Visca, transformed the qualification penalty (4-1 119th). Sevilla FC, five-time winner of the C3 since the beginning of the century, was hot, but the 0-0 held at Sanchez Pizjuán allowed him to reach the 8th against Cluj, hung 1-1 in the first leg. After a stunning game, Shakhtar Donetsk drew 3-3 at Benfica and qualified for the 8th, while Braga was eliminated by the Glasgow Rangers on Wednesday. Celtic Glasgow lost 3-1 against Copenhagen, and see the Danes spinning in 8th. One of the surprises of the evening came from Austria, with the qualification in 8th, for the first time in its history, of Linz ASK, trained by the French Valérien Ismaël, who fell from AZ Alkmaar (2-0). Espanyol Barcelona were eliminated by the English from Wolverhampton, the Swedes from Malmö were out by the Germans from Wolfsburg and FC Basel defeated Nicosia. The meeting between Salzburg and Francort had previously been postponed until Friday due to bad weather.