Two Brazilians make Manchester United happy, while Robert Lewandowski alone is not enough for FC Barcelona. In the intermediate round of the Europa League, the cracker goes to the top English club. Juventus Turin thanks a world champion, FC Sevilla saves just a lead.
FC Barcelona lost the heavyweight duel in the first knockout round of the Europa League. The team around the German national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and the former Bayern star Robert Lewandowski missed the round of 16 with a 1: 2 (1: 0) at Manchester United. In the first leg, Barça had not gotten more than 2-2.
Former Bayern striker Lewandowski gave Barcelona the lead in the 18th minute with a penalty kick. Brazilians Fred (47′) and Antony (73′) turned the game around with their goals in favor of the English Premier League club.
In contrast, the Italian record champions Juventus Turin are allowed to continue playing in the European Cup thanks to world champion Ángel Di María in a nightmare season. The old lady, who is only seventh in Serie A after a point deduction, won 3-0 (2-0) in the second leg at FC Nantes. Argentina’s veteran star Di Maria (5th/20th, penalty kick/78th) scored all the goals for Juve, who were outnumbered early on after Nicolas Pallois (19th) was sent off.
The traditional club, which was eliminated in the preliminary round of the Champions League, was recently deducted 15 points for alleged accounting fraud in connection with player transfers. The club has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Sports Court of the Italian Olympic Committee CONI.
AS Roma also reached the round of 16 thanks to the 2-0 (2-0) win over RB Salzburg, the Italians drew despite a 0-1 defeat in the first leg and thanks to goals from Andrea Belotti (33′) and Paulo Dybala (40′). One more round. On the way to a 4-0 (1-0) win at FC Midtjylland in Denmark, Sporting Lisbon benefited from the fact that Midtjylland’s Paulinho received a yellow card (36th) and then yellow-red (38th) within a few minutes. The Europa League specialists from record winners FC Sevilla were even able to go 0-2 (0-0) at PSV Eindhoven, the 3-0 lead from the first leg was enough to advance.
