UEFA Europa League: Both Manchesters United And City Fall

Besiktas snuck through the last round, but they looked a lot more like the fourth placed team in Turkey in this match. Atletico Madrid scored all three of their goals in the first half. Eduardo Salvio netted the first two, with Adrian hitting the third. Simao kept the tie alive for Besiktas by netting a fantastic goal from 20 yards in the 53rd minute, but they couldn’t cut the lead further. Atleti are in control heading to Istanbul, but Besiktas’ away goal makes things interesting.

Things were a bit cagey and lacking in real chances in the first 60 minutes of this encounter, before Joel Matip picked up a straight red card for a foul on Luuk de Jong in the penalty area. He stepped up and converted the penalty himself for the game’s only goal. Twente won’t be thrilled about failing to extend that lead against 10 men, but they’re in control of the tie on account of not allowing an away goal.

The visitors could also have felt aggrieved not to have a penalty awarded when Llorente had his shirt clearly pulled in the area by Chris Smalling, however it was United who would go on to open the scoring.

Athletic didn’t allow their heads to drop though, and had numerous chances to pull things level before Llorente eventually did. Markel Susaeta wasted a glorious opportunity when he skinned Evans for pace before sending a lob wide of the mark.

Metalist Kharkiv had looked something not too far short of unstoppable in the early stages of their Europa League campaign, but the Ukrainian side appear to have met their match in Olympiacos. It was never going to be an easy game - Olympiacos haven’t failed to win since January and haven’t even conceded a goal in that time, but Metalist gave it a good shot and were probably the stronger of the two teams in the first leg.

But for all of their good work in the attack and midfield, the hosts looked decidedly vulnerable at the back, and David Fuster made them pay when he acrobatically put a loose ball past Alexandr Goryainov just after the interval to make it 1-0. Metalist tried to level but no amount of pressure could see them seriously threaten an equaliser. Things went from bad to worse for the home side when Edmar received a straight red for a strange sliding challenge on Giannis Maniatis in the 82nd minute, and the Ukrainians now have a mountain to climb when they travel to Athens.