Posted in:
FC Barcelona was monitored by Napoli on Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League, while Glasgow Rangers crushed Borussia Dortmund. The return matches will be held next Thursday.
Barcelona, despite its apparent dominance, could do no better than a draw at Camp Nou against Napoli (1-1), and Borussia sank in Dortmund against Glasgow Rangers (2-4), Thursday 17 February in the first matches. UEFA Europa League match.
For his part, Sevilla, the other contender for the final victory, made a serious choice to qualify for the round of 16 by controlling Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 in Andalusia. Croatian Ivan Rakitic scored from a penalty kick (13th), Argentine Lucas Ocampos (44) and French Anthony Martial (45 + 1) for Sevilla, and Mislav Orsic tied 1-1 for the Croats (41).
In Barcelona, it was Napoli who opened the scoring, through pole Piotr Zielinsky, in two stages, after seeing his first shot blocked by Marc-Andre ter Stegen (29).
But the Catalans got the deserved equalizer from a penalty kick, the ball whistled by the Brazilian Juan Jesus and turned by the young player Ferran Torres (59) after watching the video assistant referee for Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs.
Barcelona coach Xavi had set up a striker trio made up of youngsters Ferran Torres (arrived from Manchester City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) and Adama Traore (Wolverhampton), who created many chances but failed to achieve them.
Double from Morelos
Traore gave up his place in the last quarter of the hour to French striker Ousmane Dembele, whistled again by Cam Nou who was angry with him for not leaving the transfer period and for not extending his contract, which expires at the end of the season. .
In Dortmund, Borussia fans had a dark evening with this sinking that badly damaged their survival in the Europa League.
The Germans, still without their injured star striker Erling Haaland, were 2-0 down in the first half: England captain and defender James Tavernier opened the scoring with a penalty kick (38), then Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos doubled the mark (41).
Marco Rose’s men conceded the third goal by England’s John Lundstram (49th place), two minutes before England’s Judd Bellingham reduced the score and gave Borussia some semblance of breathing.
But domestic hopes have faded since the Scots scored the fourth goal three minutes later through Morelos (54th place), the double.
At the end of the match, Portuguese international Rafael Guerrero reduced the result and fixed the final result with a shot from the left side under the crossbar (82).
In the other main matches of the day, Betis beat Zenit (3-2), Porto beat Lazio 2-1, Atalanta did the same over Olympiacos (2-1) and finally RB Leipzig and Real Sociedad tied 2.-2.
The return matches will be held next Thursday.
with AFP
