Europa League Round of 16: Olympiacos, Sporting CP, FC Twente, Atletico Grab Series Openers; Rough Thursday For Manchester Clubs

The Round of 16 in the Europa League opened on Thursday with the opening contest of each of the eight two-game series..

At Kharkiv, Ukraine:


David Fuster scored the only goal of the match in the 50th minute as Olympiacos took the opening match of their two-game series with FC Metalist Kharkiv 1-0 on the road.

At Lisbon, Portugal:



Xandao provided the lone goal of the contest in the 51st minute as Sporting CP took the opening contest of their series with Manchester City 1-0 at home.  Here we see some Citizens trudging back to the midfield circle following the Lions' goal.

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At Enschede, Netherlands:

Luuk de Jong's successful penalty kick in the 61st minute provided all the scoring as FC Twente defeated visiting FC Schalke 04 1-0 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Madrid:

Eduardo Salvio scored twice (24', 27') as Atletico Madrid used a three-goal first half to top visiting Besiktas 3-1 in their series opener.  

At Liege, Belgium:




Lars Stindl (PK-22', that's him celebrating here) and Mame Biram Diouf (55') each contributed a goal as Hannover 96 gained a game-one 2-2 draw on the road against Standard Liege.  Yoni Buyens (26') and Mohamed Tchite (29') each delivered a goal for the hosts.


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At Valencia, Spain:




Roberto Soldado (shown here mobbed by teammates) scored twice (13', PK-43') as Valencia took measure of visiting PSV Eindhoven 4-2 in the clubs' series opener.  Two late goals----from Ola Toivonen (PK-82') and Georgino Wijnaldum (89')-----helped put life back in the Dutch club's hope of taking the series.


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At Alkmaar, Netherlands:




Goals from Maarten Martens (62', that's him celebrating) and Erik Falkenburg (84') carried AZ Alkmaar to a 2-0 game-one home win over Udinese.


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At Manchester, England:




Fernando Llorente (43'), Oscar de Marcos (72'), and Iker Muniain (90') each delivered a goal as Athletic Bilbao took game one of their two-match series from Manchester United 3-2 on the road.  Wayne Rooney provided both of the Red Devils' goals (21', PK-90'+2).  Shown here are teammates from the Spanish Basque Country club celebrating after Fernando Llorante scored their first goal in the 44th minute.


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