Successful replacement for Manchester United

The confrontation between Milan and Manchester United was called by many fans a hidden LE final.

However, the first match did not answer the question of who deserves a place in the next round of the playoffs.

Mancunians were close to victory, but in the 92nd minute they allowed Simon Kier to level the score.

In the return meeting, the Italian team looked more active at first.

In the first half, the hosts created several dangerous moments at the gates of Dean Henderson, but they could not break it.

All the more unexpected was the goal of Manchester United right after the break.

Moreover, Paul Pogba managed to score.

The Frenchman missed more than a month due to injury, and in Milan he finally got into the team's application.

At the beginning of the second half, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer threw him into the game instead of the inert Marcus Rashford, and three minutes after the appearance on the field, the Frenchman opened the score with a kick from the goalkeeper line.

In the 65th minute, Stefano Pioli released his joker - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had returned to service after being injured.

Soon the Swede could level the score with a point-blank header, but Henderson showed miracles of reaction and saved the team.

The opponents did not manage to break through it that evening.

The Englishman spent the 11th clean sheet this season and bypassed his teammate David De Gea, who has ten meetings to zero.

And Manchester United knocked Milan out of the European competition for the second time in a row.

In the 1/8 finals of the 2009/10 Champions League, the Mancunians also turned out to be stronger on aggregate - 4: 0, 3: 2.

Incredible comeback of Dynamo Zagreb

The main sensation of the game day took place in Croatia, where Dynamo Zagreb and Tottenham met.

Before the game, it seemed that the outcome of the confrontation was a foregone conclusion, since the Londoners at home scored two unanswered goals into the opponent's goal.

In addition, a few days before the return meeting, the head coach of the owners, Zlatko Mamich, was sentenced to prison.

Damir Krzhnar urgently took his place on the bench.

The first half was held according to the scenario that suits the guests.

There were practically no dangerous moments, and the fans in front of the TV screens could well doze off.

They were awakened by a stunning goal by Mislav Orsic in the 62nd minute.

The midfielder from outside the penalty area spun the ball exactly into the far corner.

But Londoners, it seems, did not wake up at that moment and continued to believe in their own infallibility.

They got down to business only when the same Orshich from the penalty area shot the target and turned the game into extra time.

But Mislav could no longer be stopped.

At the very beginning of the second extratime, he shifted from the left flank to the center, defeating several opponents along the way, and accurately shot into the near corner.

The hat-trick was not the first in his career.

For example, in 2019, he hit Atalanta's goal three times in the Champions League.

In the time remaining before the final whistle, Tottenham could have escaped.

What is one moment of Harry Kane in the 116th minute, when Dominik Livakovich miraculously parried the attacker's shot at point-blank range.

Thus, Dynamo made an incredible comeback, and the Londoners ended their performance in the UEL.

At the same time, Jose Mourinho suffered his third crushing defeat in his career in European competitions, two of which are at the head of the current team.

Minimum loss to Arsenal

The fans of another English team, Arsenal, also had to get nervous, which in the first match confidently beat Olympiacos 3: 1 away.

At home, Londoners were defeated by a minimum score.

At the very beginning of the second half, Youssef El-Arabi scored the only goal with the help of a ricochet.

It is noteworthy that the Moroccan hit the Gunners' goal in the third game in a row.

A week ago, he scored against them in Greece, and in February 2020, with an accurate shot in the 119th minute, he knocked out the venerable opponent from the Europa League.

Olympiacos failed to do it again - Arsenal took revenge for a painful failure.

In the time remaining before the final whistle, the hosts could well not only win back, but also achieve defeat, but they were not lucky that evening.

In addition, the guests in the end were left in the minority after the removal of Fusseini Ba, who received the first yellow card for breaking the rules, and the second immediately - for disputes with the referee.

Granada's impressive debut

The defeat in the return match was also suffered by the Spanish "Granada" - 1: 2.

After the first game, Molde found itself in the same position as Dynamo Zagreb - they conceded two unanswered goals on the road and had a chance to escape.

True, the return meeting due to coronavirus restrictions did not take place in Norway, but on neutral territory in Budapest.

Nevertheless, Jesus Vallejo's own goal in the 29th minute finally revived the intrigue in this confrontation.

In the future, the nominal hosts could repeatedly equalize the score on the aggregate of two matches, but instead, in the second game in a row, they allowed 35-year-old Robert Soldado to hit their own net.

However, the victory still remained with the Norwegian team.

At the very end of the meeting, Erling Moe's charges earned a penalty, which was converted by Eirik Hestad.

And "Granada" in the debut season of European competition reached the LE quarterfinals.

The sad end of "Miner"

Ukrainian teams had to perform a miracle in order to make it to the quarterfinals.

After all, Shakhtar conceded three unanswered goals from Roma in the first match, and Dynamo Kiev conceded two from Villarreal.

The Pitmen, who reached the semifinals of the tournament last season, believed in a home comeback despite an almost hopeless situation.

However, in the first half, they failed to hit the opponent's goal, and in the 48th minute Borja Mayoral made their position hopeless.

After an hour of the meeting, Junior Morais equalized the score, but the same Mayoral put an end to the confrontation.

By the way, the Spanish striker already has seven goals in the current LE draw, and in the tournament scorers' race he is second only to Mikael Ishak from Lech and Kane.

However, their teams have already completed their performance in European competitions, and accordingly, the forward has a chance to overtake rivals in the near future.

For the third time in history, Shakhtar were eliminated from the UEFA Cup / Europa League in the second round of the playoffs.

Moreover, this time the Ukrainian team was stopped by his former mentor Paulo Fonseca.

Lack-willed departure of Kiev "Dynamo"

Failed to perform a miracle and "Dynamo", which on the road lost to "Villarreal" with the same score as in the first match - 0: 2.

Moreover, the outcome of the confrontation was a foregone conclusion, even in the starting 45-minute, when the gate of George Buschan was twice struck by Gerard Moreno.

After that, the second half of the meeting was more like a friendly.

So the Kievites for the third time in the last four years completed their performance in the LE at the 1/8 final stage.

Last season, the blue and white did not even leave the group.

Ukraine not only lost the last representatives in European competitions, but also lost the right to directly lead one team to the group stage of the Champions League-2022/23.

This is due to the fact that the country finished the current UEFA competition in 12th place in the UEFA coefficient table, behind Scotland.

Rangers striker scary foul

The British retained their 11th line despite the Rangers' departure.

The current season has been more than successful for the team.

In early March, she became the 55-time champion of Scotland six rounds before the finish line.

Then the fans were waiting for the UEL quarterfinals, especially since Slavia seemed quite passable rival.

And an effective away draw (1: 1) was an acceptable result.

However, the home game from the very beginning did not develop according to the scenario of the owners.

Already in the 14th minute, Peter Olayinka hit the gate of 39-year-old Allan McGregor.

Now Steven Gerrard's wards had to score twice to advance to the next round.

Instead, the team was outnumbered at the end of the meeting hour.

Shortly before that, Kemar Ruf, who came on as a substitute, hit Ondřej Kolář in the face in the fight for the ball with spikes and knocked out the goalkeeper.

Judge Aurel Greenfield showed the striker a straight red card, and the goalkeeper who received a serious cut had to be changed.

After the match, he was hospitalized.

The trouble did not come alone for the Rangers.

Just ten minutes later, defender Leon Balogun received a second yellow card, and the team remained with nine.

Nicolae Stanciu immediately doubled the guests' lead in the score and removed all questions about the outcome of the confrontation.

Thus, "Slavia" for the second time in the last three years made it to the LE quarterfinals.

In 2019, only the future Chelsea trophy winner managed to stop the Czech team.

Birthday present for Ajax

Confidently stepped into the next round of the playoffs and Ajax.

The Amsterdam players beat the Swiss Young Boys in two matches with a total score of 5: 0.

On Thursday, the day of the 121st anniversary of the club, Eric ten Hag's charges sent two unanswered goals into the opponent's goal.

Goals were scored by David Neres and Dusan Tadic, who converted the penalty.

The Serb has three effective strikes in the current UEL draw, two of which are from the penalty spot.

And the Amsterdamites in the second most important European Cup so far do without losses.

In the previous stage, they beat Lille twice.