United, Schalke, Lyon and Ajax into Europa League last eight
BY Agencies17 March 2017 10:54 PM IST
Agencies17 March 2017 10:54 PM IST
Schalke 04 hit back from two goals down to draw 2-2 and overcome fellow Germans Borussia Moenchenglach on away goals in their Europa League last 16 tie while Manchester United edged Rostov 1-0 to progress on Thursday.
Juan Mata's second-half goal gave the English Premier League's only survivors in the competition a 2-1 aggregate win over the Russians.
Olympique Lyon clung on to eliminate AS Roma 5-4 on aggregate despite a 2-1 defeat, while former European trophy winners Ajax Amsterdam and Anderlecht also went through along with Racing Genk.
Russia's interest in this season's European competitions ended as Krasnodar threw away a promising position at home to Celta and lost 2-0 for a 4-1 aggregate defeat. Besiktas hammered Olympiakos Piraeus 4-1 (5-2 on aggregate) despite having Vincent Aboubakar, scorer of their first goal, sent off six minutes before halftime.
Schalke, trailing at halftime to a deflected shot from Andreas Christensen and a 30-metre rocket from Mahmoud Dahoud, were helped by a bumpy pitch as they hit back against Gladbach.
Manchester United, who held Rostov 1-1 on a difficult pitch in the first leg, needed a 70th minute goal from Juan Mata, who turned the ball home from Zlatan Ibrahimovic's back-heel, and two good saves from Sergio Romero. However, midfielder Paul Pogba was forced off with an injury in the second half, putting a dampener on the win. Lyon took a 4-2 lead to the Stadio Olimpico and quickly added to it when Mactour Diakhaby was allowed a free header from six metres in the 16th minute against Roma.
Kevin Strootman levelled within a minute, turning in Daniele De Rossi's free kick at the back post, and it was one-way traffic after that as the home side poured forward.
Lyon's Lucas Tousart turned Stephan El Shaarawy's cross into his own net to put Roma 2-1 ahead on the hour and the hosts thought they had done enough to progress with an Edin Dzeko effort but the Bosnia forward was ruled offside.
First-half goals from Bertrand Traore and Kasper Dolberg gave Ajax a 2-0 win over FC Copenhagen which took the four-times European champions through 3-2 on aggregate.
Frank Acheampong's second half goal was enough for former European Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup holders Anderlecht to beat APOEL 1-0 and go through2-0 on aggregate.
Racing Genk coasted through 6-3 on aggregate against fellow Belgians Gent after a 1-1 draw.
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