Europa League didn't lack for excitement on Thursday, with both sets of fixtures providing plenty of late drama. FC Porto was the only team that needed the away goals rule to progress and went through in an absolute thriller, while Tottenham Hotspur took advantage of a favorable sending off to pull off their win.
Europa League scores: Tottenham pull off a miracle; Napoli, Sevilla progress
Spurs needed the referee and a mental error from Roman Zozulya to win on Thursday, but they took advantage to progress in Europa League. Other big teams like Napoli, Juventus, Porto and Sevilla also found their way through.
Jamie McDonald
Spurs were down 1-0 heading into the second leg of their tie against Dnipro and things looked bad for them early in the second half when Roman Zozulya netted an away goal. But the same player who gave Dnipro a huge advantage went on to dig their grave an hour into the second leg when he was sent off for headbutting Jan Vertonghen. From there, Spurs went on to win 3-1, good enough to send them through.
Elsewhere, Porto were involved in an absolute thriller away to Eintracht Frankfurt. The Portuguese giants looked like they’d struggle to go through after they gave up a late equalizer in the first leg, but the second leg was just as wide open. Their decisive goal came from Nabil Ghilas, who fired Porto level on the night and ahead on away goals in the 86th minute.
There was another entertaining 3-3 draw on the day, between Ludogorets and Lazio, but that one wasn't good enough to see the favorites through. Lazio lost the first leg and have surprisingly been dumped out of the tournament. Ajax were also disappointing, adding to their embarrassment in Austria, while Real Betis pulled off a stunning upset against Rubin Kazan. La Liga's worst team has a date in the next round with their local rivals, Sevilla, who also progressed.
Scores
Rubin Kazan 0-2 Real Betis (1-3 aggregate)
Napoli 3-1 Swansea City (3-1 aggregate)
Sevilla 2-1 Maribor (4-3 aggregate)
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-2 Viktoria Plzen (2-3 aggregate)
Ludogorets 3-3 Lazio (4-3 aggregate)
Salzburg 3-1 Ajax (6-1 aggregate)
FC Basel 3-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv (3-0 aggregate)
Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3 FC Porto (5-5 aggregate; Porto advances)
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (3-2 aggregate)
Trabzonspor 0-2 Juventus (0-4 aggregate)
Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 Chornomorets (1-0 aggregate)
Fiorentina 1-1 Esbjerg (4-2 aggregate)
Genk 0-2 Anzhi (0-2 aggregate)
Valencia 0-0 Dynamo Kiev (2-0 aggregate)
Benfica 3-0 PAOK (4-0 aggregate)
AZ Alkmaar 1-1 Slovan Liberec (2-1 aggregate)
Round of 16
AZ Alkmaar vs. Anzhi
Ludogorets vs. Valencia
FC Porto vs. Napoli
Olympique Lyonnais vs. Viktoria Plzen
Sevilla vs. Real Betis
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Benfica
FC Basel vs. Salzburg
Juventus vs. Fiorentina
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