March 15 – The Europa League quarter finalists have been decided following a night of busy night of knockout football, as the draw lines up a potential dream final between Xabi Alonso’s high-flying Bayer Leverkusen and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool final game.
Amongst Thursday’s results, Liverpool achieved a huge 11-2 aggregate victory over Sparta Praha. They led the tie 5-1 heading into the Anfield fixture, but fielded a strong side to keep legs warm for Sunday’s FA Cup clash with Manchester United at old Trafford.
Eager to get back amongst the goals after being frustrated by Manchester City at the weekend, the Reds opened the scoring in the seventh minute and were 4-0 up within the opening quarter of an hour.
As Klopp’s men began to relax with the work already done, Slavia Praha got a goal back but were met with two more second-half goals from Liverpool.
Mohamed Salah returned to action for his first start since January, tallying three assists and one goal following a lengthy spell out with injury. His availability will be a massive boost in Liverpool’s Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League hopes for the remainder of the season.
The Reds were drawn against Atalanta in Friday afternoon’s Quarter Final draw, and will face either Marseille or Benfica in the semi-finals if they progress.
Meanwhile, Xabi Alonso’s high-flying Bayer Leverkusen left it late to come back against Qarabag and cement a place in the last eight in unconvincing style.
Czech striker Patrik Schick scored twice in added time to keep his team’s unbeaten record in tact, winning the tie 5-4 on aggregate.
The Bundesliga leaders scraped past the Azerbaijani league champions into the quarter finals, where they’ll face UECL Champions West Ham. The Hammers earned a place in the quarters by thrashing Freiburg 5-0 at the London Stadium, overcoming their first-leg loss in emphatic style.
The winner of Leverkusen v West Ham will face AC Milan or Roma in the semi-finals.
AC Milan secured a comfortable 1-3 win over Slavia Prague to round out a miserable night for the Czech Capital. The Rossoneri impressed with a seven-goal display across the two legs- form they will hope to carry into their knockout tie with the Romans next month.
Roma’s four-goal haul in the first leg against Brighton was enough to carry them into the next stage of the competiton, despite losing the second leg 1-0.
Marseille’s first-leg lead, fuelled by golden boot leader Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was enough to send Villarreal out of the competition, whilst Benfica also scraped past Rangers by a slender one-goal margin. They face each other in next month’s quarter finals.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1734995043labto1734995043ofdlr1734995043owedi1734995043sni@g1734995043niwe.1734995043yrrah1734995043