Europa League: Antony edges Man United past Barca, Roma and Union also secure wins
Manchester United - Barcelona 2-1
Antony scored a dramatic winner as Manchester United came from behind to banish Barcelona from this season’s Europa League. The Red Devils powered through to the last 16 by ending a 15-year wait for a win over La Blaugrana, who suffered their first defeat of the calendar year.
Straight from kick-off, it was evident that Erik ten Hag had tinkered with the line-up that drew at the Nou Camp last week, with Wout Weghorst up top and Jadon Sancho in the No 10 role.
It appeared to be paying dividends when Bruno Fernandes was slid in by Casemiro early on, but his low effort was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and that’s about as good as it got for the Red Devils in a discouraging first half.
Alejandro Balde suffered no such frustration, and the teenage wunderkind earned the visitors a penalty inside 15 minutes, beating Fernandes in a foot race before being clumsily pulled down.
David de Gea is yet to keep a clean sheet against Barca, and although he got a strong hand to Robert Lewandowski’s stuttering spot-kick, it wasn’t enough to stop the Pole from notching his 39th goal in UEFA competitions since the start of 2018/19 - an unmatched total among Europe’s elite.
La Blaugrana went on to dominate the rest of the half, forcing Ten Hag to shuffle things around at the interval, and the Dutchman was rewarded immediately as Fred took Old Trafford by surprise with a swift touch and finish that eluded Ter Stegen.
The Catalan giants almost struck back soon after through Jules Kounde, whose header forced De Gea into an eye-catching reflex save, and the Frenchman was made to pay for his missed opportunity as substitute Antony found impressive composure in the heat of battle to rifle into the bottom corner.
The result extends Barca’s recent misery in England, with their last trip resulting in a famous 4-0 thrashing against Liverpool in 2019. Ten Hag will be forced to move on quickly, although he can look forward to Sunday’s Carabao Cup final full of confidence after taking an almighty scalp at Old Trafford.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Fred (Manchester United)
Roma - Salzburg 2-0
Two first-half goals launched Roma into the round of 16, overcoming a one-goal first-leg deficit to RB Salzburg in their playoff.
Roma wasted no time in pressing their Austrian opponents, as they looked to turn around the first-leg deficit quickly. A flurry of corners produced no clear-cut chances for Mourinho’s men however, as the Salzburg defence remained solid as a rock in the opening half-hour.
The Giallorossi were finally rewarded for their first-half pressure when Leonardo Spinazzola picked out Andrea Belotti in front of goal, who headed home to level the aggregate scoreline.
Spinazzola continued to wreak havoc on the Salzburg defence, and he capped off his super first-half performance by dropping a cross onto the boot of Paulo Dybala to stab home, doubling Roma’s lead just before the break, and putting the Serie A club ahead in the tie for the first time.
With their backs against the wall, Salzburg pushed to reclaim parity in the tie, but Roma’s rearguard were a brick wall in the face of the pressure. The home side came close to adding a third around the hour mark but Bryan Cristante's long-range effort looked to be going in but for a superb save from Philipp Kohn. From the resulting corner, Mourinho's men thought they were about to be awarded a penalty, but following a VAR review, the referee decided there was no infringement.
The late addition of Benjamin Sesko caused a few problems for the Roma defenders, but it was too little, too late for the Austrians, and their Europa League journey came to a screeching halt in Rome.
The disappointing result may come as no surprise for the Salzburg faithful however, as they have seen their side fail to win in the last six trips to Italy for European knockout matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma)
Union Berlin - Ajax 3-1
Union Berlin reached the last 16 of a European competition for the first time in their history as they beat Ajax 3-1, both on the night and on aggregate.
Union will have been disappointed not to prevail in Amsterdam last week given their superiority, but the goalless draw still gave them a fantastic opportunity to get the job done at the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, where they are unbeaten in their last 11 games in all competitions.
Early on, they struggled to get a foothold in the game against an Ajax side that certainly looked far more energetic than they had in the Dutch capital.
Around the 20-minute mark, however, Union made one of their few threatening forays forward and found themselves in front. Danilo Doekhi's back-post header from a corner was blocked by Calvin Bassey’s hand and, following a trip to the pitchside monitor, the referee pointed to the spot. Despite goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli’s best efforts, Robin Knoche's effort from 12 yards squirmed in via the post to give the hosts the lead.
Rulli was perhaps unfortunate for the opening strike, but he was solely to blame as Union doubled their lead shortly before the interval. After Ajax had an equaliser ruled out for offside, Josip Juranovic’s effort on his weaker foot looked harmless, but the Argentine shot-stopper allowed the ball to slip through his hands and into the corner, sending the Eisernen into halftime dreamland.
The start of the second period was breathless. Within less than two minutes, the visitors halved the deficit courtesy of Mohamed Kudus’ delicate flick to put pressure on a Union outfit not used to playing European heavyweights.
Urs Fischer’s men, though, are nothing if not strong-willed, and they restored their two-goal advantage almost immediately as Doekhi powered home Juranovic’s corner.
Kudus wasted a huge chance when smashing wide from close range but, besides that, the Eredivisie champions never looked like staging a comeback, and their evening ended on an even sourer note as Edson Alvarez received his marching orders in stoppage time.
The victory is a historic one for Union, who can now sit back and enjoy Friday’s last-16 draw.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Josip Juranovic (Union Berlin)
Rennes - Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 a.e.t. (4-5 pen.)
Shakhtar Donetsk booked their spot in the last 16 for the third time in four seasons, as a penalty shoot-out victory over Stade Rennais saw them progress after a dramatic tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.
Having been on the losing side in both head-to-heads coming into the contest, Rennes looked like a team desperate to continue their European journey during the opening exchanges, with Amine Gouiri, Djed Spence and Adrien Truffert all seeing early efforts thwarted by Anatoliy Trubin in the Shakhtar goal.
Despite a slow start, the visitors gradually grew into the contest and were harshly denied an opener, when Lassina Traore’s close-range strike was disallowed for a handball from Mykola Matviyenko in the build-up.
Unbeaten in six of their previous nine trips to France in UEFA competition, Shakhtar continued to improve before the break, restricting the hosts to only half-chances in front of goal while remaining a threat on the counter through the lively presence of Traore and Oleksandr Zubkov.
Rennes emerged after the restart eager to gain control of the match, and duly levelled the tie within seven minutes, as Karl Toko Ekambi received a clever pass from Gouiri, before firing a clinical finish beyond Trubin.
Buoyed by the breakthrough, the hosts went in pursuit of a decisive second into the final half-hour, but Arnaud Kalimuendo saw a goal-bound effort brilliantly blocked, while at the other end, Steve Mandanda had to be alert to deny a sharp volley from Yukhym Konoplya.
Both sides showed no signs of slowing down in the final 10 minutes of normal time, as Truffert curled a speculative effort over the bar and Flavien Tait saw a low strike parried away by Trubin, as Shakhtar held firm to force an extra half-hour.
The hosts looked to carry their momentum into extra time, but Trubin again came to the visitors’ rescue with an excellent save to deny Gouiri.
Having wasted a number of chances to put the tie beyond Shakhtar, Rennes finally made their pressure count in the 106th minute, as Jeremy Doku brilliantly chased down a long ball, before rolling a pass across the six-yard box for Ibrahim Salah to tap home.
For all their dominance, Rennes were dealt a hammer blow at the death, as Jeanuel Belocian inexplicably sliced the ball into his own net to send the match to penalties, where a heroic Trubin saved from Doku, Birger Meling and Lesley Chimuanya Ugochukwu to seal a dramatic triumph for Shakhtar.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Anatoliy Trubin (Shakhtar Donetsk)