Barcelona held 1-1 by Napoli, Rangers win in Dortmund in EL

Barcelona: After dropping out of the Champions League, Barcelona now faces a difficult task just to qualify for the round of 16 in the Europa League.

In its first appearance in the second-tier European competition in nearly two decades, the Catalan club was held 1-1 by Napoli at Camp Nou Stadium on Thursday in the first leg of one of eight playoffs between third-place finishers in the Champions League groups and Europa League group runners-ups.

It is the first time since 2003-04 that Barcelona is not in the knockout stages of the Champions League, a tournament it won five times.

In the other matchups, Scottish club Rangers stunned Borussia Dortmund 4-2 away, Real Betis won 3-2 at Zenit St. Petersburg and Sheriff beat Braga 1-0. Sevilla, Atalanta and Porto recorded home victories, while Real Sociedad drew 2-2 at Leipzig. In the playoff matches to reach the last 16 of the inaugural Europa Conference League, Leicester ended a five-game winless streak in all competitions by beating Denmark's Randers 4-1, while Norway's upstart Bod /Glimt upset Celtic 3-1 in Glasgow.

Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, Rapid Vienna, Midtjylland, Slavia Prague and Partizan Belgrade also won the opening leg.

The second-leg games in both competitions are scheduled for Feb 24.

EUROPA LEAGUE

Ferran Torres salvaged the draw for Barcelona by converting a penalty that was awarded due to Juan Jesus' handball in the 59th minute. The forward calmly sent goalkeeper Alex Meret the opposite way from the spot.

Barcelona dominated the remaining 30 minutes but couldn't find a winner.

Napoli scored from a counterattack after Torres wasted a chance to net for Barcelona. At the other end, Eljif Elmas set up Piotr Zielinski for the opener in the 29th.