Barcelona and Manchester United served up an exciting 2-2 draw within the Europa League knockout playoffs Thursday that outranked something seen within the Champions League this week.
The previous European champions traded leads in a back-and-forth second half of their first-leg sport at Camp Nou.
Barcelona struck first within the fiftieth minute on defender Marcos Alonso’s header from a nook and leveled within the 76th when Raphinha’s cross from the best wing curled into the online untouched. United’s protection was distracted by Robert Lewandowski’s failed try to attach.
In between, Marcus Rashford confirmed simply why Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández described him as one of the harmful forwards in Europe.
Barcelona’s Andreas Christensen, left, Ronald Araujo, heart, and Gavi are seen after the top of the Europa League playoff first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Manchester United on the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. The sport ended 2-2. (AP Photograph/Joan Mateu Parra)
Rashford beat goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen at his close to put up with a shot from a good angle within the 53rd then created United’s go-ahead objective seven minutes later.
Receiving the ball on the touchline from a nook taken brief, Rashford dribbled into the penalty space then fired a low cross that was flicked on by Bruno Fernandes and bounced as much as ricochet into the online off defender Jules Koundé for an personal objective.
EUROPA LEAGUE
A sport between two former Champions League finalists noticed Monaco captain Axel Disasi rating with a long-range shot in stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen.
Juventus was held 1-1 by Nantes, after main within the thirteenth on Dušan Vlahović’s objective, and appeared certain to be awarded a penalty for a handball within the fifth minute of stoppage time. As a substitute, after a two-minute overview and consulting the pitchside display, Portuguese referee João Pinheiro awarded Nantes a free kick for a foul by the Juventus participant Bremer.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s first aggressive sport of 2023 in the course of the midwinter break for the Ukrainian league was a 2-1 win over Rennes in a “residence” sport performed in impartial Warsaw.
Shakhtar’s first sport since promoting star winger Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea noticed his substitute on the left flank, Dmytro Kryskiv, open the scoring within the eleventh minute.
Sevilla, the report six-time champion, eased to a 3-0 win over PSV Eindhoven, and Salzburg will take a 1-0 result in Roma subsequent week due to Nicolas Capaldo’s header within the 88th. Coach José Mourinho’s crew virtually leveled when Andrea Belotti’s header was pushed on to the crossbar by goalkeeper Philipp Köhn.
Ajax drew 0-0 at residence to Union Berlin, the shock Bundesliga title challenger. Sporting Lisbon received a stoppage-time objective from defender Sebastian Coates to attract 1-1 with Midtjylland.
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Fiorentina’s 4-0 rout of residence crew Braga was the standout efficiency within the Europa Convention League knockout playoffs.
Forwards Luka Jović and substitute Arthur Cabral every scored twice, and Braga had defender Vitor Tormena despatched off for a late sort out on Jović.
5 of the eight video games resulted in 1-0 wins for the house crew: Trabzonspor over Basel, Qarabağ towards Gent, Ludogorets over Anderlecht, and AEK Larnaca towards Dnipro-1 of Ukraine.
Lazio’s objective towards Cluj by Ciro Motionless got here deep in first-half stoppage time after Lazio defender Patric was despatched off. It was 0-0 in Norway between Bodø/Glimt and Lech Poznan.
In Moldova, Sheriff misplaced 1-0 to visiting Partizan of Serbia in a sport performed in an empty stadium, ordered by nationwide authorities citing concern about an alleged Russian-backed plot to overthrow the federal government. – AP
Juventus endure extra frustration in draw with Nantes
Juventus’s disappointing season continued as they have been held to a 1-1 draw by Nantes within the residence leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday.
Juventus picked up one win from six Champions League group matches to drop into the Europa League playoffs and after additionally being deducted 15 Serie A factors for monetary irregularities their followers have endured a depressing marketing campaign.
The playoff got here as welcome aid for the Turin giants towards a facet mendacity thirteenth in French Ligue 1 and the hosts raced into an early lead when Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic swept residence Federico Chiesa’s header throughout objective.
Chiesa was unlucky to not double his facet’s benefit early within the second half after his highly effective effort hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced on the objective line and got here out.
Nantes capitalised on that let-off, nevertheless, to attain a high quality equaliser on the hour mark, Ludovic Blas slamming the ball into the online following a swift counter-attack.
The Nantes woodwork was once more rattled when Angel Di Maria’s nook evaded everybody and clipped the crossbar, however a winner eluded Juve on one other irritating night. – Reuters