LONDON: Europa League favourites Manchester United secured a 1-1 draw on a threadbare pitch at Rostov, while Olympique Lyonnais beat AS Roma 4-2 helped by a fine individual goal from Nabil Fekir in their last 16, first leg ties on Thursday.

Racing Genk won 5-2 at Gent in an all-Belgian clash and German rivals Schalke 04 and Borussia Moenchengladbach drew 1-1 in a meeting of former UEFA Cup winners.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s away goal gave United, who have never won the Europa League, the advantage ahead of the second leg, particularly with Rostov captain Aleksandr Gatskan and full-back Timofei Kalachev ruled out of the game next week due to bookings.

Rostov coach Ivan Daniliants said defender Vladimir Granat was also out after breaking his collarbone.

United coach Jose Mourinho complained about the quality of the pitch before the game, but his side had the benefit of a strong wind for the first half.

The visitors largely frustrated Rostov, playing for the first time at this stage of European competition, albeit without creating many opportunities as both sides slugged it out in midfield.

Mkhitaryan made the breakthrough with the first real chance 10 minutes before the interval, turning the ball in from close range after some nifty footwork by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But Rostov, who beat Bayern Munich on the same ground in November on their way to a third-place finish in their Champions League group, levelled eight minutes after the restart at the Olimp 2 stadium.

Alexander Bukharov volleyed past Sergio Romero for a superbly-taken goal after chesting down a long ball over the United defence from Kalachev, keeping Rostov hopes alive ahead of next week’s return at Old Trafford.

“It was a very good performance in relation to the conditions. It was impossible to play better, impossible to play a passing game,” Mourinho told BT Sport.

“We played what the game demanded and we played well. We made one defensive mistake.

“I remember as a kid some matches like this in Portugal — non-league and amateur pitches. To see my players coping with it and the humility to fight for every ball is a good feeling for me.

“We have an open result for the second leg with a little advantage for us. There are no injuries.”

STYLISH RECOVERY

There was greater entertainment in France, where Mohamed Salah and Federico Fazio gave Roma a 2-1 halftime lead at Lyon but the hosts hit back in style after the break.

Young defender Mouctar Diakhaby gave Lyon an early lead after Rafael had helped on a Mathieu Valbuena free-kick, but his slip allowed Salah to race clear and equalise for Roma in the 20th minute.

Fazio then headed in a Daniele De Rossi cross to put the Italian side in front but Lyon levelled two minutes after the break through Corentin Tolisso helped by Alexandre Lacazette’s clever reverse pass.

Fekir put the hosts ahead in the 74th, three minutes after coming on, when he skipped past three defenders in the penalty area, moved the ball to his left foot and curled a shot past Roma’s Brazilian goalkeeper Allison.

Roma, currently second in Serie A, would still have been hopeful of turning things around in next week’s second leg but Lacazette thundered in the hosts’ fourth in stoppage time to give Lyon a two-goal cushion.

Gladbach’s Jonas Hofmann gave them a 15th minute lead in Gelsenkirchen, latching on to a sublime through ball by Lars Stindl to beat Ralf Faehrmann from close range, before Guido Burgsteller replied 10 minutes later for Schalke.

The goal spurred the home side — beaten 4-2 by Gladbach in the Bundesliga on Saturday — but the visitors did enough to hold on.

Mbwana Samatta led the charge for Genk, scoring two of their five goals at Gent. Jeremy Perbet missed a penalty for the hosts at 4-2 down before they had Anderson Esiti sent off late on.

A mistake from Olympiakos Piraeus ‘keeper Nicola Leali, when he kicked the ball straight to Vincent Aboubakar, cost his side dearly as the Besiktas forward scored to cancel out Esteban Cambiasso’s first-half goal and earn the Turkish side a 1-1 draw in Athens.

Claudio Beauvue’s 90th minute goal gave Celta Vigo a 2-1 win at home to Russia’s Krasnodar, FC Copenhagen’s Andreas Cornelius headed in on the hour to secure a 2-1 home victory against former European champions Ajax Amsterdam and Anderlecht won 1-0 at APOEL Nicosia with a first-half goal from Nicolae Stanciu.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2017