Marcus Rashford shoots to score during the Europa League round of 16 second leg match between Real Betis and Manchester United at Benito Villamarin Stadium on March 16, 2023 in Seville, Spain. Photo Credit: AP
Arsenal’s hopes of a European title ended when the Premier League leaders were knocked out of the Europa League by Sporting Lisbon in a penalty shootout.
Lisbon progressed to the quarter-finals after winning 5-3 in a shootout at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday after drawing 1-1 in regulation in the second leg of their round-of-16 tie. The first leg ended 2–2.
Gabriel Martinelli failed to convert from the spot for Arsenal.
“It’s a big blow,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. bt sport,
“There were moments, especially during the first 75 minutes, when we were not at our level and threw every ball away.” Meanwhile, Manchester United progressed to the quarter-finals after a 1–0 win over Real Betis.
Arsenal dominated extra time with playmaker Martin Odegaard coming on as a substitute but Sporting goalkeeper Antonia Aden made some stunning saves to force a shootout.
Manuel Ugarte was sent off two minutes before the end of extra time after picking up his second yellow card.
Granit Xhaka gave Arsenal a first-half lead on the rebound to complete a flowing move by the hosts. Martinelli had his attempt on goal blocked by Aden, but the ball came into the path of Xhaka for the Arsenal captain to head into the net from inside the area.
Pedro Gonsalves leveled the scores on the hour on the visitors’ attack and to force extra time.
Rashford on target as United lead
In Seville, Marcus Rashford produced a clinical finish in the 56th minute, finding the bottom corner of the net with a low drive from outside the area to help United progress to second-tier European competition on a 5–1 aggregate score Did.
Rashford’s 27th goal of the season came after the striker wasted several good chances to put the visitors ahead at Seville’s Benito Villamarin Stadium.
“Betis are a really good team, we saw that against Real Madrid and Barcelona, but we beat them twice so I think we played really well,” explained manager Erik ten Haag bt sport,
“The second half, we were much better on the ball, keeping it in their half and then you create chances.” United won 4-1 in the first leg at Old Trafford last week.
Ten Haag made four changes to their starting lineup after a 0-0 draw against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday, with right winger Facundo Pellistri making his first start for the club.
United won the Europa League in 2017.
feyenoord defeat
Feyenoord beat Shakhtar Donetsk 7–1 in Rotterdam to go 8–2 on aggregate.
Shakhtar was the last Ukrainian team in European competitions. The teams finished 1–1 in the first leg played in Poland due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Orkun Koccu scored twice, the second from the spot in the first half, and Osama Idrisi scored twice in the second half.
Santiago Jimenez, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Danilo Pereira also scored one each for the Dutch club before Kevin Kelsey got a consolation for the visitors.
Betis’ crosstown rivals Sevilla were more successful, despite losing 1–0 at Fenerbahçe. Sevilla, the six-time Europa League champions, progressed 2–1 on aggregate. Ener Valencia scored the winner for Fenerbahçe four minutes before the break.
Juventus went 3–0 on aggregate after beating 10-man Freiburg 2–0.
Dušan Vlahović converted from the penalty spot and substitute Federico Chiesa doubled the advantage in stoppage time for the Italian powerhouse.
Leverkusen advanced after beating Ferencvaros 2–0. Roma progressed despite a 0–0 draw at Real Sociedad after a 2–0 win in the first leg.
Belgium’s Union Saint-Gillois advanced to the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over 10-man Union Berlin in Brussels after a 3-3 draw last week.
Europa Conference League
West Ham beat AEK Larnaca 4-0 in London. Jarrod Bowen scored twice in two minutes at the start of the second half to extend West Ham’s lead to 3–0, after Gianluca Scamacca’s opening goal in the first half. Substitute Dvin Mubama added a fourth this season to take him to a perfect record in Europe.
Europa League semi-finalists the previous season, a 6–0 aggregate victory sent the Hammers through to the quarter-finals of the third-tier European competition.
Lazio were knocked out by Dutch club AZ Alkmaar after losing 2–1 in both legs.
Fiorentina beat Sivasspor of Turkey 4–1 to progress 5–1 on aggregate. Sivspor finished the home game with 10 after captain Hakan Arslan picked up a red card.
Anderlecht took a 2-1 lead at Real Sociedad with a 1-0 win, while Nice were in command to win 4-1 on aggregate after a 3-1 win at home to Sheriff .
Sweden’s Djurgården were eliminated 5–0 on aggregate after losing 3–0 to Polish club Lech Poznan. The match against Slovan in Bratislava went to extra time after the two teams finished 4–4 on aggregate after Basel won the penalty shootout 4–1.
On Wednesday, Gent beat Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir 4-1.