LONDON: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored late to steer Arsenal into the last 16 of the Europa League with a 3-2 win over Benfica on Thursday, while Napoli and both German teams were knocked out.
Arsenal had to come from behind to advance 4-3 on aggregate, while Napoli are out despite beating Granada 2-1 in the second leg. The modest Spanish club surprisingly advanced 3-2 on aggregate.
“The dream continues!” Granada midfielder Luis Milla said on Twitter.
Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim went out with 2-0 losses at home to Swiss side Young Boys and Norwegian minnows Molde, respectively.
“A huge disappointment,” Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz said after losing 6-3 on aggregate. Molde dumped out Hoffenheim 5-3 on aggregate.
Manchester United drew 0-0 with Real Sociedad for a 4-0 aggregate win, and Milan progressed on away goals, 3-3 on aggregate, after drawing 1-1 at home with Red Star Belgrade.
Goals from Lukas Provod and Abdallah Sima in the second half gave Slavia Prague a 2-0 win at Leicester City to progress after their goalless first leg.
AS Roma had little difficulty getting past Sporting Braga with a 3-1 win at home for 5-1 over two legs.
Ajax Amsterdam eliminated Ligue 1 leaders Lille with a 2-1 victory in Amsterdam to complete a 4-2 overall win, while Gerard Moreno netted both goals as Villarreal dumped out Salzburg 4-1 on aggregate.
Egyptian forward Ahmed Hassan’s 88th-minute strike in Eindhoven sent Olymiapkos through at the expense of PSV 5-4 on aggregate.
Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers completed an astonishing 9-5 aggregate win over Belgian side Antwerp thanks to a 5-2 win in Glasgow.
Former winners Shakhtar Donetsk beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 to complete a 3-0 aggregate victory and Dynamo Kyiv won 1-0 at Club Brugge to progress 2-1 on aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb beat Krasnodar 1-0 (4-2) to complete the line-up for the last 16, with Tottenham Hotspur also in the mix after destroying Wolfsberg of Austria by an aggregate score of 8-1 on Wednesday.
Aubameyang scored twice for Arsenal, including the decisive 87th-minute winner just as the Gunners were poised to go out on the away goals rule despite playing both games abroad due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
The teams played the second leg in Athens while the first leg ended 1-1 in Rome after Benfica’s home game was relocated from Portugal.
Aubameyang opened the scoring in the 21st, finishing clinically after Bukayo Saka played him through.
Diogo Gonalves equalised with a perfectly placed free kick inside the top left corner in the 43rd.
A mistake from Dani Ceballos gifted Benfica its second goal after an Arsenal corner in the 61st. Benfica goalkeeper Helton Leite produced a long kick out that Ceballos tried heading back to his own goalkeeper, but only inadvertently laid it off for Rafa Silva, who rounded Bernd Leno before finishing into the empty net.
But left back Kieran Tierney replied with a strike inside the far post in the 67th after showing good composure to elude a Benfica defender, and Aubameyang completed the turnaround with a close-range header to the 19-year-old Saka’s cross.
“It certainly keeps the season going, that’s for sure,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, whose team are 11th in the Premier League, said. “Today would have been really harsh after what had happened in the two legs to go out.”
United had effectively clinched the tie against Sociedad last week with an emphatic 4-0 win on neutral ground in Italy.
Mikel Oyarzabal’s awful penalty miss represented the best chance at Old Trafford for La Real, while Bruno Fernandes rattled the crossbar and Axel Tuanzebe’s header was disallowed for a foul.
Leicester, who are behind second-placed United in the Premier League only on goal difference, were knocked out after sliding to a loss at home to Czech champions Slavia.
Provod fired Slavia in front just after half-time following a goalless draw in the first leg, and Senegalese teenager Sima ensured the visitors extended their run in the competition.
“There is a fantastic euphoria right now,” Provod said. “It was a hard match, but we never stopped believing that we would score a goal.”
Milan squeezed past Red Star in a clash of former European champions at the San Siro.
Franck Kessie’s penalty gave Milan the lead but Red Star hit back through Ben Nabouhane and pushed hard late on despite being reduced to 10 men.
Having lost the first leg 2-0, former winners Napoli got a perfect start when Piotr Zielinski put them in front after three minutes.
But Angel Montoro levelled for Granada and although Fabian Ruiz struck again for the hosts on the hour, Granada held on to prolong their impressive European debut.
Ajax beat Lille although it was tough examination for the Dutch side who needed a late goal by David Neres to calm their nerves.
Rivals PSV Eindhoven’s hopes disappeared as they lost a thrilling tie on aggregate against Olympiacos, despite winning 2-1 on the night. Eran Zahavi’s brace appeared to be sending PSV through on away goals but Hassan fired home to leave the hosts in despair.
Five different players on target for Rangers in their win over Antwerp at Ibrox.
After a dramatic 4-3 win in the first leg last week, goals from Alfredo Morelos, Nathan Patterson and Ryan Kent put Rangers in control before late penalties from Borna Barisic and Cedric Itten wrapped up the tie.
Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2021