Thursday, February 27, 2014

Europa League: Spurs, Juve, Red Bulls, Lyon, Spanish Trio Advance; Bad Thursday For Ukrainian Clubs; Swans Fall, Too

Sixteen games were contested on Thursday as the Europa League's Round-of-32 came to a close.

At Kazan, Russia:

Jose Antonio Delgado Villar (a.k.a. Nono; 45') and Ruben Castro (64') provided the scoring as Real Betis blanked Rubin Kazan 2-0 on the road in game two and won their two-match series 3-1 on aggregate.

At Naples, Italy:

Lorenzo Insigne (17'), Gonzalo Higuain (78'), and Gokhan Inler (90'+3) provided the scoring as Napoli defeated visiting Swansea City 3-1 in game two and won their two-match series by that same score on aggregate.

At Seville, Spain:

Kevin Gameiro scored the series-winning goal in the 59th minute as Sevilla held off visiting NK Maribor 3-2 in game two and won their two-game series 4-3 on aggregate.

At Donetsk, Ukraine:

Daniel Kolar (29') and Milan Petrzela (33') each scored a first-half goal five minutes apart as FC Viktoria Plzen defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 in game two on the road and took out the Ukrainian club 3-2 on aggregate.

At Sofia, Bulgaria:

Juninho Quixada scored the series-winning goal in the 88th minute as PFC Ludogorets Razgrad salvaged a game-two 3-3 home draw with Lazio, enabling the Bulgarian club, who had been just moments away from elimination due to the away goals rule, to win their two-match series 4-3 on aggregate.

At Wals-Siezenheim, Austria:

Helped by goals from Sadio Mane (66') and Jonathan Soriano (77'), FC Red Bull Salzburg defeated visiting Ajax Amsterdam 3-1 in game two and completed their two-match beatdown of their Dutch guests 6-1 on aggregate.

At Basel, Switzerland:

Marco Streller scored twice (60', 72') as FC Basel took care of visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-0 in both game two, and the series on aggregate.

At Frankfurt am Main, Germany:

Eliaquim Mangala (58', 71') and Nabil Ghilas (86') delivered the goals as FC Porto came from behind to gain a 3-3 game-two road draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, and with the aggregate score at 5-5, won their series on away goals.

At London:

Emmanuel Adebayor scored a pair of goals four minutes apart in the second half (65', 69') as Tottenham Hotspur defeated visiting FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-1 in game two and overturned their series-opening defeat in the process as they won their series 3-2 on aggregate.

At Trabzon, Turkey:

Arturo Vidal (18') and Dani Osvaldo (33') provided the scoring as Juventus posted a second 2-0 victory over Trabzonspor, this time on the road, and eliminated the Turkish club 4-0 on aggregate.

At Lyon, France:

Alexandre Lacazette scored the only goal of both the match and series in the 80th minute as Lyon took care of visiting FC Chornomorets Odessa 1-0 in both game two and the series on aggregate.

At Florence, Italy:

Josip Ilicic scored in the 47th minute as Fiorentina gained a 1-1 game-two home draw with Esbjerg fB and knocked out the Danish club 4-2 on aggregate.

At Genk, Belgium:

Oleksandr Aliyev scored the game-and-series-insuring goal in the 71st minute as FC Anzhi Makhachkala blanked KRC Genk 2-0 on the road in game two and ousted the Belgian club by that same score on aggregate.

At Valencia, Spain:

A 0-0 home draw in game two with Dynamo Kiev was good enough for Sevilla as the Spanish club eliminated the Ukrainian club 2-0 on aggregate.

At Lisbon, Portugal:

Nicolas Gaitan (70'), Rodrigo Lima (PK-78'), and Lazar Markovic (79') each scored a goal during a ten-minute span in the second half as FC Benfica dominated visiting PAOK FC 3-0 in game two and won their two-match series 4-0 on aggregate.

At Alkmaar, Netherlands:

Nick Viergever's goal in the 19th minute carried AZ Alkmaar to a 1-1 game-two home draw with Slovan Liberec and a 2-1 series aggregate victory over the Czech club.

Matchups for the Round of 16 with the match-one hosts listed first:

AZ Alkmaar vs. FC Anzhi Makhachkala

PFC Ludogorets Razgrad vs. Valencia

FC Porto vs. Napoli

Lyon vs. FC Viktoria Plzen

Sevilla vs. Real Betis

Tottenham Hotspur vs. SL Benfica

FC Basel vs. FC Red Bull Salzburg

Juventus vs. Fiorentina

The opening games are scheduled to be played on March 13, with the return contests to take place the following Thursday.

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