Rashford's duel with Rafinha
This time, fortune turned out to be unfavorable to football fans.
The confrontation between Barcelona and Manchester United could be an ornament to any of the decisive stages of not only the Europa League, but also the Champions League, but the lot brought them together already in the playoff round.
Fortunately, this did not affect the entertainment in any way.
The rivals gave the brightest match, inflicted 18 shots on each other's goal and scored four goals for two.
And even the ambiguous verdicts of the judges, who were severely criticized by both coaches, did not spoil the impression of him.
After the first half, zeros were on the scoreboard, and Pedri's injury became the main event.
This season, the Spanish child prodigy has played more than 2.3 thousand minutes for the Blaugrana, and at the World Cup in Qatar he took the field in all four meetings.
But this time he was replaced before the break.
As it became known, the midfielder was diagnosed with damage to the back of the thigh, because of which he could miss up to four weeks.
One way or another, but it was in the absence of Pedri that the most interesting began.
In the 50th minute, Barcelona took the lead through the efforts of Marcos Alonso, but already nine minutes later, she herself was inferior.
The comeback was personally organized by Marcus Rushford, who is in phenomenal shape since returning from Qatar.
During this period, the Englishman scored 17 (13 + 4) points according to the "goal + pass" system, and this time he again replenished the scorer's account.
First, he caught Marc-Andre Ter Stegen by surprise with a sharp angled shot, and then performed an insidious backache that ended with Jules Künde's cut.
However, the blue garnet found something to answer.
Rafinha took over the role of leader, by this time he already had a transfer in the asset.
This time he also tried to find a partner in the penalty area, but everything turned out even better.
Robert Lewandowski, although he did not get to the ball, disoriented De Gea, who failed to react to the Brazilian's cross.
Barcelona walked away from defeat at home, but was hardly satisfied with the result.
The winning streak of the Catalans ended at the mark of 11 matches, and Gavi lost the opportunity to play at Old Trafford due to a bust of yellow cards.
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford
Gettyimages.ru
© David Ramos / Staff
Misfire of the giants of Serie A
The meeting in Turin ended much more dramatically.
Dusan Vlahovic put Juventus ahead already in the 13th minute, but in the remaining time the Italian team was unable to build on the success.
The hosts did not really create dangerous moments and limited themselves only to long-range “shots” by Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes, and Alex Sandro's kick after a corner kick.
Punishment followed after an hour of play.
Federico Chiesa made a mistake with the transfer and organized a counterattack on his own goal, Bremer slipped on an equal footing, and Ludovic Blas, who burst into the penalty area, irresistibly struck under the crossbar.
Juventus rushed forward, but ran into the organized defense of Nantes.
Until the end of regular time, the French failed in defense only once, but Vlahovich loaded the crossbar with all his might.
However, already in stoppage time, the guests again gave up the slack.
Fabien Sentons lost the position to Bremer and put his hand in the path of the ball, thereby preventing him from being in the net after the Brazilian header.
The penalty seemed obvious, but after watching a video replay, João Pedro Pinheiro made a highly controversial decision.
He saw a violation of the rules on the part of the defender of the owners during the riding fight and refused to point to the point.
But if Juventus was at least content with a draw, then their rival in Serie A was completely defeated.
And this despite the fact that Roma dominated and created many more chances than Salzburg.
Tammy Abraham and Andrea Belotti attacked from deadly positions, but the hosts' goalkeeper Philip Köhn literally pulled the balls towards him.
And in the very ending, the well-known rule worked: “If you don’t score, they score for you.”
Nicolas Capaldo was left without guardianship in someone else's penalty area and converted Strahini Pavlovich's serve into a goal.
Jose Mourinho's men didn't have time to recoup.
Juventus forward Federico Chiesa
Gettyimages.ru
© Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC / Contributor
Miracle comeback "Monaco" and the salvation of "Sporting"
At the same time, the match in Leverkusen became the most action-packed, where Bayer and Monaco sorted out the relationship.
The hosts were in the role of catching up already in the ninth minute.
Lukasz Hradecki was looking for an addressee for the transfer for a long time, but Bril Embolo, who rushed to press, found him earlier and forced him to cut the ball into his own net.
Yes, the Swiss acted rather harshly, but the referee did not record a violation of the rules against the goalkeeper.
The striker did not stop there and could soon solve all the questions about the winner, but missed after the transfer of Alexander Golovin.
"Bayer" endured until the break and by the middle of the second half he had pulled ahead.
The highest skill was demonstrated first by Moussa Diaby, and then by Florian Wirtz, who literally single-handedly dealt with the defense of the Monegasques before upsetting Alexander Nubel.
But the last word still remained with Monaco, and the goals were no less impressive.
First, Krepin Diatta hit exactly into the far corner, and in stoppage time from 27 meters Axel Disasi irresistibly fired.
But everything could have turned out differently if Adam Gloszek had hit the post a few minutes earlier.
In the end, everything was decided in the match between Sporting and Midtjylland.
Wards of Ruben Amorim did not realize a lot of chances, and 13 minutes before the end of regular time they also missed.
Goalkeeper Antonio Adan made a monstrous mistake in the transfer, for which he was punished by Emam Ashur.
As a result, the Lisbon captain had to save his team.
In the 94th minute, Sebastian Coates went into the opponent's penalty area and scored the first goal since December 2021.
AS Monaco defender Axel Disasi
Gettyimages.ru
© picture alliance / Contributor
The defeat of Sevilla and the success of Shakhtar
Based on the score, one might get the impression that the Andalusians did not experience any problems in the confrontation with opponents from Eindhoven.
But in fact, this is not entirely true.
PSV inflicted only one shot less on goal (14:15), and on the expected goals (xG) they did not concede at all (both - 0.95 each).
But this evening luck was on the side of Sevilla.
Wards Jorge Sampaoli three times left out of work Walter Benitez, and the protagonist of the meeting was Lucas Ocampos.
First, he shot incredibly from a roundhouse, and then gave a spectacular pass with his heel and helped Nemanja Gudel to distinguish himself.
Shakhtar also started with a victory.
By the end of the first half, the Pitmen were leading by two goals.
And for this they have to thank not only Dmitry Kryskiv, who played great on the rebound and Artyom Bondarenko, who converted a penalty, but also Karl Toko Ekambi.
In the middle of the 45-minute period, the Cameroonian had a 100% chance to excel, but did not convert a one-on-one with Anatoly Trubin.
In the second half, the Rennes forward nevertheless rehabilitated himself and closed the serve to the far post, but there were not enough guests for more.
In turn, Ajax and Union did not score goals at all.
The Dutch had a colossal territorial advantage, but they could not realize it.
Moreover, in front they created far fewer Germans who regularly broke into their defenses with the help of counterattacks.
The Berliners were closer to success and even sent the ball into the opponent's net, but the referee canceled Morten Thorsby's goal due to handball.
Sevilla forward Lucas Ocampos
Gettyimages.ru
© Denis Doyle - UEFA / Contributor