There were 16 matches that took place on Thursday night across the Europe League and Europa Conference League. These were the first of two legs in the play-off fixtures, determining which sides will make it through to the round of 16, in both the respective competitions.
5 British sides will be interested observers of the play-offs, awaiting their opposition. Those teams are Rangers, Liverpool, West Ham and Brighton in the Europa League. And Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League.
Europa League
Galatasaray 3 Sparta Prague 2
The Istanbul club fired themselves ahead with a strike breezing past the near-post of Prague keeper, Svilar. Prague drew back parity with a precise strike. Mertens saw a speculative effort, deflected in, to regain momentum. A momentum which immediately dissipated with a last man foul, resulting in a red card for Galatasaray. And soon after, Prague drew even in the game with a bullet header. Rynes was harshly sent off to make it 10 men vs 10 men. Icardi ended a thriller with a goal to make it 3-2!
Feyenoord 1 Roma 1
The Dutch side went ahead 1-0 with a free header in the box. Another header was the means by which Roma got back into the tie, through Lukaku.
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 Marseille 2
Ukrainian legend, Andriy Shevchenko was an esteemed guest in the stands. There was no action to get excited about, until Aubameyang opened the scoring. Bad defending from Marseille gifted an equaliser to Shaktar. Marseille slotted home what would surely be a late winner in stoppage-time, until Shakhtar immediately got a leveller.
Young Boys 1 Sporting Lisbon 3
The Portuguese side were gifted a lead with an own-goal conceded by Young Boys, which was compounded by Lisbon converting from a softly-awarded penalty. Young Boys pegged one back from a rocket, which was too hot to handle for Lisbon keeper, Adan. Lisbon regained a 2 goal cushion with a headed finish. Camara got sent-off for Young Boys, late on.
Benfica 2 Toulouse 1
João Mário turned and volleyed, inches over for Benfica. Di Maria whipped in a delicious corner, that led to a back post effort, deflect wide for Benfica. Di Maria dispatched a stupidly-conceded penalty with a needless handball from Toulouse. Amends were made for the French outfit with Desler driving in a pin-point accurate goal. Benfica got another penalty and Toulouse had a man sent off for a clumsy studs-up tackle. Di Maria was cool again, with another successful spot-kick
Lens 0 SC Freiburg 0
Freiburg grazed the Lens’ crossbar to briefly disrupt the constant motions of flag-waving from the Lens Ultras. A high-octane start lost its tempo. And Lens had a goal disallowed for offside from a short corner in the second half to add to their frustrations.
AC Milan 3 Rennes 0
Milan’s Loftus-Cheek grazed in a header to help the Italians gain the first advantage in the tie. Lotus-Cheek scored his second goal magnificently with a diving header, before Leao added a tidily-taken third.
Sporting Braga 2 Qarabag 4
Qarabag earned a penalty and dispatched it with aplomb to open the scoring. Banza levelled just before the break for Braga. Qarabag regained control in unusual circumstances; a VAR check showed that the man lying on the floor in the draft-excluder position for Braga from a free-kick, was playing Qarabag onside. Another tight offside goal went in favour of Qarabag again. There was a slotted finish, that had no element of doubt, immediately after from the Azerbaijani team, to go 4 up. Braga’s Moutinho scored a pen to make it a bit less conclusive, for this tie.
Europa Conference League
Olympiakos 1 Ferencváros TC 0
Ferencváros thought they had an opener, but the goal was overturned, with the set piece being adjudged as offside.
Olympiakos poked in a goal to open the scoring, after 83 minutes of inert goal-net movements.
Union Saint-Gilloise 2 Eintracht Frankfurt 2
Eintracht Frankfurt scored first from a byline run, and added a breakaway goal to go 2-up. Saint-Gilloise pulled one back in the first half, then levelled in the second half with a lobbed finish. Two yellows for Vanhoutte led to his dismissal for Saint-Gilloise.
SK Sturm Graz 4 Slovan Bratislava 1
Sturm started fresh out the traps: Arsenal loanee, Mika Biereth nabbing a goal with the outside of his boot. Slovan quickly equalised. Stankovic headed Sturm back into the lead. After the break, Sturm extended their advantage with a pen and then an additional open-play goal.
Molde 3 Legia Warsaw 2
Molde scored a delightful combination goal, with a cross marrying neatly with a flicked finish. A keeper spillage handed a second on the plate to Molde. Within 25 minutes, it was 3! Legia arrowed in a goal to offer a glimmer of hope in the tie. A glimmer became a shining light, as a back-post header gave Legia a second in the match.
Ajax 2 Bodo Glimt 2
Akpom tested the waters early doors with a long-range effort, that was tipped over. Glimt responded emphatically with a pacy counter, leading to a shock goal. In the second half, the shock became a horror for Ajax. Caught lacking in possession, Glimt punished the lapse in concentration. Ajax missed a sitter, that would hand got them back into the tie, and Glimt almost immediately made them pay once more. Ajax did get back into the tie, in the end however, with a late penalty, and a red for Glimt. And it got better. A lob of the keeper at the eleventh hour rescued a draw for Ajax.
Maccabi Haifa 1 KAA Gent 0
Gent’s Sonko forced a mild flap from Haifa’s Keouf. Gent had a gilt-edged opportunity with acres of space on the Haifa right flank, but didn’t capitalise. Haifa clipped in an opener with the goalkeeper caught in no man’s land.
Real Betis 0 Dinamo Zagreb 1
Fekir forced a save early-on from Zagreb’s Nevistic. The referee was sent to the monitor for a blatant handball from Betis, which he had somehow missed. Zagreb thundered in the penalty, in a game that had been sparsely populated with chances, up to that point.
Servette 0 Ludogorets Razgrad 0
Ludogorets curled a shot in towards top bins and Frick saved with embellishment. Servette seemed destined to score at the far-post, but the shot was blocked by one of their own players!
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