Exit of Shakhtar and Dynamo

Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev will continue their performance in the Europa League playoffs.

Both teams got quite feasible rivals in the 1/16 finals: Maccabi from Tel Aviv and Brugge - and moved on.

However, the return matches were not without nerves.

After a confident away win (2-0), the Pitmen could have conceded in the first half at home, but they were lucky.

And after the break, the hosts earned a penalty kick, which was confidently converted by Junior Moraes.

But Dynamo made their fans really worried, because Mircea Lucescu's charges stood up to the 83rd minute to be eliminated from the tournament.

A goalless draw in Belgium did not suit them.

However, the goal was scored by Vitaly Buyalsky, who, after a cross from Viktor Tsygankov, literally pushed the ball into the net.

Two Ukrainian teams can meet each other already at the 1/8 finals stage.

Departure of "Hoffenheim" and "Bayer"

But both German teams unexpectedly failed.

Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim suffered home defeats with the same score 0: 2 and were eliminated from the playoffs ahead of schedule.

Thus, only for the second time in history has not a single German club been able to reach the 1/8 finals.

For the first time this happened in the 2013/14 season.

Leverkusen lost to Young Boys.

The first half ended in a draw, and in the second the Swiss team scored two unanswered goals.

Hoffenheim lost to Molde, who were considered the clear underdog of this confrontation and, moreover, had not entered the field since December.

However, this did not stop the Scandinavians from hitting Oliver Bauman's goal twice.

The double was awarded to 28-year-old midfielder Eric Andersen, who scored against Sinsheim in Germany.

This helped Molde become the first Norwegian team in history to qualify for the 1/8 finals of the LE / UEFA Cup.

Arsenal comeback

In one of the main meetings of the game day, Arsenal and Benfica met.

The first match between them, nominally home for the Lisbonians, took place in Rome and ended in a draw (1: 1), and therefore the Londoners had a slight advantage.

Mikel Arteta's charges opened the scoring in the middle of the first half.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went one on one with the goalkeeper and outplayed him.

However, Daniel Ceballos decided to revive the intrigue, who had an extremely unsuccessful match.

Shortly before the break, he broke the rules on Julian Weigl, and Diogo Gonçalves equalized from the free kick.

And after an hour of the game, the Spaniard dropped the ball with his head to the goalkeeper so badly that he organized a luxurious exit for Rafael Silva.

Now Arsenal needed to score two goals, and the team coped with this task.

Kiran Tierney equalized the score with a solid blow from the penalty area.

And in the 87th minute, a bunch of Bukayo Saki and Aubameyang worked again.

The first made an excellent cross, and the second closed the combination near the far post and made a double.

Two other British bands also stepped forward.

Tottenham defeated Wolfsberg at home on Wednesday - 4: 0 thanks to Vinicius Morais's double and goals from Dele Alli and Gareth Bale.

Manchester United, which beat Real Sociedad a week ago with a similar score, in the return leg was content with a goalless draw, which completely satisfied the team.

But "Leicester" took off sensationally.

Jamie Vardy's team conceded two unanswered goals at home from Slavia Prague and will now have the opportunity to focus on the fight for the Premier League medals.

The Czech team reached this stage of the tournament for the second time in the last three years.  

Milan's nerve

For the Italian teams, the game day also turned out to be ambiguous.

For example, Crvena Zvezda unexpectedly managed to put up serious resistance to Milan and twice parted with a venerable rival in the world.

Only more away goals helped the Rossoneri advance to the next round.

Although the home match started very well for Stefano Pioli's charges.

After watching the replay, the referee awarded a penalty kick to the guests, which was converted by Frank Kessier.

By the way, Milan have already hit the 18th penalty spot in all tournaments this season, this is the best result in the top 5 European championships.

It seemed that after this Belgrade could surrender, but they immediately created a number of dangerous moments.

Slavoljub Srnic's goal was canceled by the referee due to handball.

After a hard hit by El Fardou Ben Nabuana, the crosspiece took over the ball.

However, in the middle of the first half, the striker evened the score.

In the second half of the meeting, Crvena Zvezda could have scored more goals, but the team's players lacked luck and composure at the final stage of attacks.

In addition, in the 70th minute Marko Gobelich received the second yellow card for a foul in the center of the field.

But "Napoli" unexpectedly lost on aggregate to the modest "Granada".

The first game ended with the victory of the Spanish team with a score of 2: 0.

At home, the Neapolitans hit someone else's goal in the third minute thanks to an accurate shot by Piotr Zielinski.

But they could not build on the success, and instead, in the middle of the first half, they conceded from Angel Montoro.

After that the owners had to score twice, but they managed to score only once.

Thus, the company "Milan" in the 1/8 finals will be only "Roma", which confidently passed "Braga".

The nature of Olympiacos

And one of the most incredible outcomes of the game day took place in Eindhoven, where the local PSV hosted Olympiacos.

The first game ended with the victory of the Greek team (4: 2), and therefore the team from the Netherlands had to score twice.

The hosts coped with this task in the first half.

Eran Zahavi managed to score a double in the second match in a row.

In total, this season LE has six goals in six matches.

In the second half, PSV calmly kept a satisfying score and was close to making it to the next round.

Olympiacos had no choice but to go ahead with the whole team.

And in the 88th minute the guests scored the required goal.

The gate of Ivona-Landry Mvogo was struck by Ahmed Hassan, who came on shortly before.

A year ago, the Piraeans also managed to make an impressive comeback at a similar stage of the tournament.

Then the team beat Arsenal in extra time - 2: 1 thanks to a goal in the 119th minute.

"Shootout" in Glasgow

And the confrontation between Rangers and Antwerp was the most productive.

In two matches, the teams hit each other's goal 14 times - seven in each meeting.

13 years ago Swedish Helsingborg and Dutch Heerenveen scored the same 14 times.

And if on the road, Steven Gerard's wards won with a minimal advantage (4: 3), then they defeated the opponent at home (5: 2).

Although Antwerp fought to the end and surrendered only after conceding two goals from the penalty spot shortly before the final whistle.

The main character among the winners was Alfredo Morelos, who recorded a goal and two assists.