Summary of the great battle: Manchester United - Liverpool 2:2, great goal by Bruno Fernandes/Sport1
The quarter-final stage of the Europa League started tonight (Thursday) with the first games that left a lot of flavor for the return games next week. Atalanta stunned Liverpool at Anfield, Roma stopped the gallop of Milan, Bayer Leverkusen beat West Ham in the closing minutes and Nafica beat Marseille.
Liverpool - Atalanta 3:0
If the dramatic 2:2 draw with Manchester United in the last round was not enough to drop Jurgen Klopp's team to second place in the Premier League table, now it seems that the German coach's farewell tour may also end without a European title. The Reds went up in rotation against the guest from Italy who stunned Anfield and gained a huge advance for the return match in the land of the boot next week. Gianluca Scamacca, who played for West Ham last season, returned to English soil and felt like the host at the Reds' home stadium with a huge brace in the 38th and 60th minutes, which mainly highlighted how weak the hosts' defense was tonight. Mario Pešalić added the third after another appalling defensive display and a bad tackle by Quibin Kelleher and perhaps set the rematch to be for the record only with a huge away win. It was Liverpool's first home loss since February 2023.
the progress of the game
3 min: The visitors almost stunned Anfield - Liverpool's turnover led to an Atalanta burst, but Mario Pešalić was stopped from close range by Quivin Kelleher who headed in superbly.
Minute 4: The tremendous pace continued with a burst from the other side that ended in a not good enough kick by Darwin Nunes that was stopped.
15 min: A wonderful deep pass from Jones found Nunez who missed from close range against Juan Musso.
26th minute: A free ball was cleared to Harvey Elliott who from the right side of the Atalanta square kicked an accurate ball that hit the crossbar, the crossbar and went out.
38th minute: Goal! 0:1 to Atalanta! Gianluca Scamacca received a cross from the right, took advantage of Liverpool's drowsy defense and with a low kick scored into Kelleher's net.
60th minute: Goal! 0:2 to Atalanta! A cross from the right once again reached Skamak, who was completely free in the box and easily kicked his second and the guest's into Kelleher's corner.
83rd minute: Goal! 0:3 to Atalanta! Another embarrassing display from the Liverpool defense, this time with two turnovers that set Peshalic up for the third after a particularly bad tackle by Kelleher.
Milan - Rome 1:0
Precisely when she is in exceptional form with seven consecutive victories in all formats, the host in San Siro was stopped against the rival she had not lost in the last 9 meetings between the teams, until this evening. Gianluca Mancini made the difference in the 17th minute when he headed in Paulo Dybala's pinpoint corner to give the Giallorossi the lead as they hope to complete the task next week in the Italian capital.
The course of the game:
17th minute: Goal! 0:1 to Rome! A corner kick from the right by Paulo Dybala found the head of Gianluca Mancini who was left free in the box and hit the far corner.
Bayer Leverkusen - West Ham 0:2
After six straight wins and ahead of the biggest weekend in the club's history, in which they could win the Bundesliga title for the first time ever, Bayer Leverkusen struggled against David Moyes' side who kept a clean sheet for 83 minutes. The defending champions pressed Fabianski's goal until a poor clearance by the Hammers' defense set up Jonas Hoffmann for a late goal, as Berkusen likes. Victor Boniface benefited from the first goal scorer's assist in extra time (90+1) that set a 42nd game in a row without a loss for Xavi Alonso's team.
The course of the game:
83rd minute: Goal! 0:1 to Leverkusen! A corner kick by the hosts was cleared by the West Ham defense until Jonas Hoffman kicked a powerful shot into the far corner to give the German side the lead.
90+1 minute: Goal! 0:2 to Leverkusen! Hoffman this time on the Brewer's standard lifted a ball that found the head of Victor Boniface who hit the host's second net.
Benfica - Marseille 1:2
Jean-Louis Gasse's team is in a real crisis precisely at the decisive moments, with four consecutive losses in all the frameworks that have degraded it to the eighth place in the local league. To her delight, the host also comes a little bent, after the 2:2 with Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Cup and the 2:1 loss to the same Sporting within the league, and now her gap from the top stands at four points. Today Banfika announced that it has decided to cancel all tickets of Marseille fans for the game, for fear of violence in and outside the stadium.
The return matches in the quarter-finals of the Europa League will take place next Thursday.