Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Lazio Roma and RB Leipzig came through during Thursday’s UEFA Europa League action, defending solid results from the first leg and qualifying for the competition’s quarterfinals.
The Gunners beat AC Milan 3-1, while Atletico ran rampant in Moscow, crushing Lokomotiv 5-1. RB Leipzig played out a 1-1 draw against Zenit, and Lazio beat Kyiv 2-0. Borussia Dortmund crashed out of the competition after a scoreless draw against Red Bull Salzburg.
Review of Thursday games
Atletico entered the first contest of the day with a healthy lead over Lokomotiv and continued their red-hot form in the Russian capital, putting five goals past the hosts.
Lokomotiv did not put up much of a fight in Madrid and didn’t fare any better on Thursday. Fernando Torres bagged a brace, while Saul Niguez, Antoine Griezmann and Angel Correa also got their names on the scoresheet. Maciej Rybus scored Moscow’s only goal.
There were few real surprises in the second wave of matches, where Marseille and Lazio turned great results from the first leg into easy wins. Plzen forced extra time against Sporting, after Bas Dost missed a last-minute penalty, but in extra time, Rodrigo Battaglia sent his team through to the quarter-finals.
Timo Werner also missed a late penalty that could have proven costly for RB Leipzig, with Zenit needing just one more goal to force extra time of their own. The Germans clung to their advantage, however.
In the late ties, Milan and Arsenal served up an entertaining first half, in which Hakan Calhanoglu opened the scoring for the Rossoneri against the run of play. Soon after that goal, a major bit of controversy followed.
Danny Welbeck was the guilty man, with a horrible flop that somehow fooled the official behind the goal. While Italian fans screamed for VAR―which has been in use in Serie A all season―Welbeck himself converted the penalty.
Granit Xhaka gave the hosts the lead, courtesy of a dreadful howler from Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Welbeck would add a second goal to put the final score on the board.
Dortmund’s dreadful European campaign came to an end in Austria, where Salzburg were barely troubled as they defended a 2-1 advantage from the first leg.
Here’s a look at Thursday’s results and the aggregate scores:
Lokomotiv Moscow 1-5 (1-8) Atletico Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 (2-5) Marseille
Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 (2-4) Lazio
Viktoria Plzen 2-1 (2-3) Sporting
Zenit St. Petersburg 1-1 (2-3) RB Leipzig
Arsenal 3-1 (5-1) Milan
Lyon 2-3 (3-3) CSKA Moscow
Salzburg 0-0 (2-1) Borussia Dortmund
The draw for the quarter-finals will be on Friday.
Credit: Bleacher Reporter
