Thursday, February 24, 2011

Europa League: Zenit, Liverpool, Leverkusen, PSV, Rangers, Benfica, Manchester CIty, PSG Advance

The opening knockout round---the Round of 32---in the Europa League concluded with the return contests from the remaining 14 two-game series on Thursday.

At Saint Petersburg, Russia:

Danko Lazovic (41'), Sergei Semak (52'), and Roman Shirokov (76') each scored once as Zenit Saint Petersburg overturned their game-one 2-1 defeat with a 3-1 home win in game two to eliminate BSC Young Boys 4-3 on aggregate.

At Leverkusen, Germany:

Simon Rolfes (47') and Michael Ballack (70') each delivered a second-half goal as Bayer Leverkusen blanked visiting FC Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 in game two to complete their two-game beatdown of the Ukrainian club 6-0 on aggregate.

At Liverpool, England:

Dirk Kuyt scored the lone goal of not only game two, but the match as well, at 86 minutes as Liverpool defeated visiting Spart Prague 1-0 in game two and by that score on aggregate to advance to the Round of 16.

At Eindhoven, Netherlands:

Balazs Dzsudzsak (55'), Jeremain Lens (67'), and Antonio Marcelo (73') each scored once as PSV Eindhoven defeated visiting Lille 3-1 in game two and won their two-game series 5-3 on aggregate.

At Moscow:

Aiden McGeady scored late (90'+1) to secure a game-two 1-1 home deadlock for Spartak Moscow, enough for them to win their two-game series with FC Basel 4-3 on aggregate.

At Lisbon, Portugal:

Maurice Edu scored the series-winning goal (90'+2) as Rangers secured a 2-2 road draw with Sporting and, with the aggregate score at 3-3, won their two-game series with the Lions on away goals.

At Villarreal, Spain:

Goals from Nilmar (42') and Giuseppe Rossi (45') enabled Villarreal to come from behind to edge visiting Napoli in game two of their two-match series 2-1 and win the series by that same score, 2-1, on aggregate.

At Amsterdam, Netherlands:

Miralem Sulejmani scored both goals early (11', 16') as Ajax Amsterdam blanked visiting RSC Anderlecht 2-0 in game two and took out the Belgian club rather handily in their two-game series 5-0 on aggregate.

At Braga, Portugal:

Sporting Braga, thanks to goals from Osorio Costa Silva Alan (9') and Lima (36'), overturned their defeat from last week in Poland with a 2-0 home win over Lech Poznan in game two and won their series 2-1 on aggregate.

At Kiev, Ukraine:

Andriy Yarmolenko (55', 74') scored twice as Dynamo Kiev once again dominated visiting Besiktas 4-0 in game two to complete their two-match demolition of the Turkish club 8-1 on aggregate.

At Manchester, England:

Edin Dzeko scored twice in the opening dozen minutes (7', 12') as Manchester City, following last week's scoreless stalemate in Greece, overpowered visiting Aris Salonika in game two 3-0, the same score in which the Citizens won the series on aggregate.

At Enschede, Netherlands:

Theo Janssen (45') and Douglas Franco (47') each delivered a tally as FC Twente took game two at home, 2-0, over FK Rubin Kazan, and took out the Russian club, 4-2 on aggregate.

At Stuttgart, Germany:

SL Benfica, thanks to goals from Eduardo Salvio (31') and Oscar Cardozo (78'), defeated VfB Stuttgart 2-0 on the road in game two, and won their two-match series with the struggling German Bundesliga club 4-1 on aggregate.

At Paris:

A 0-0 home stalemate in game two against BATE Borisov was good enough for Paris Saint-Germain as the French club, thanks to the away goals rule, won their series 2-2 on aggregate.

Here are the matchups for the Round of 16, with the opening contests taking place on March 10 and the return matches on March 17:

The clubs hosting the opening games are listed first.

SL Benfica vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Dynamo Kiev vs. Manchester City

FC Twente vs. Zenit Saint Petersburg

CSKA Moscow vs. FC Porto

PSV Eindhoven vs. Rangers

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Villarreal

Ajax Amsterdam vs. Spartak Moscow

Liverpool vs. Sporting Braga

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