Benfica crushed Rangers’ hopes of another deep run in the UEFA Europa League as Rafa Silva’s only goal secured a 1-0 victory in Glasgow to advance 3-2 on aggregate. Bayer Leverkusen narrowly avoided an upset with late goals from Patrik Schick against Qarabag. AC Milan, Marseille and Atalanta join them in Friday’s quarter-final draw.
Benfica ended Rangers’ dream of a second deep run in the UEFA Europa League when Rafa Silva scored the only goal at a wet Ibrox to give the Portuguese champions a 3-2 aggregate victory, as Bayer Leverkusen needed two stoppage-time goals from Patrik Schick to get the better of Qarabag.
AC Milan, Marseille and Cheap Atalanta Football Shirts are also among Liverpool and West Ham’s potential opponents in Friday’s quarter-final draw, live on TNT Sports.
The downpour in Glasgow created treacherous conditions with few chances for both teams, in stark contrast to the 2-2 draw in Lisbon last week.
Benfica had rarely threatened before creating a moment of class to snatch a draw 20 minutes from the end.
The visitors broke from a Rangers corner and Angel Di Maria’s header led to Silva sweeping the ball over Jack Butland for his 18th goal of the season.
Butland had been overlooked by Gareth Southgate earlier in the day for a place in the England squad, but kept his team in the game with a fine save low to the left to deny Alexander Bah a second eight minutes from the end.
Butland’s heroics were to no avail, however, as Rangers failed to find an equaliser to send the game into extra time.
Schick saves Leverkusen
Leverkusen remain unbeaten in 37 games in all competitions this season but were twice defeated by Qarabag.
Xabi Alonso’s men are storming towards their first Bundesliga title, but once again had to rely on a late show after going 2-0 down against the Azerbaijani champions, just as they did in the first game.
Abdellah Zoubir gave Qarabag the lead on the hour, but the visitors’ joy seemed short-lived when Anthony Taylor sent off Elvin Cafarguliyev for pulling down Jeremie Frimpong after a VAR review.
But the 10 men shook off that blow by breaking forward and doubling their lead.
Juninho showed incredible skill to score in the first game, getting an easy finish from Marko Vesovic’s tantalising cross.
Leverkusen struck back quickly thanks to their impressive full-backs as Frimpong cushioned a cross from Alex Grimaldo into the far corner.
But they had to wait until the 93rd minute before equalising when Schick, who also scored a stoppage-time equaliser in the first meeting, pushed the ball in at the near post.
The Czech striker then avoided extra time by completing his comeback with a header on the post eight minutes into added time.
Milan cruise, Marseille survive the scare
Cheap AC Milan Kids football jerseys made it to the round of 16 with a 3-1 victory over ten-man Slavia Prague in the Czech capital.
Slavia were already 4-2 down after the first meeting and the difficult task became almost impossible when Tomas Holes was red carded for a stamp on Davide Calabria.
Two goals in three minutes killed the tie when Christian Pulisic cut inside and slotted in with his left foot before Ruben Loftus-Cheek continued his fine scoring form by tapping in his eighth goal of 2024 from Theo Hernandez’s cross.
Milan’s hopes of going all the way in the Europa League may well rest on Cheap Rafael Leao Football Jerseys, and the Portuguese striker provided another moment of superb quality when he found the top corner to rub salt into Slavia’s wounds before half-time.
David Jurasek’s goal ensured that Slavia at least ended the night with a consolation, but it is Milan who will pose a major threat in Friday’s draw.
Marseille had to work much harder as Villarreal came close to making a remarkable recovery from a 4-0 deficit in the first leg.
Etienne Capoue headed in the opening goal and Alexander Sorloth’s goal early in the second half set up a nervy final half hour for the visitors.
Villarreal were given a boost when Yerson Mosquera headed in a free-kick five minutes from the end.
But the competition’s top scorer, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, turned in for Jonathan Clauss to get Marseille off the hook in stoppage time.
In the UEFA Europa Conference League, Olympiakos produced a stunning recovery, winning the round-robin match against Maccabi Tel Aviv 7-5 on aggregate despite losing the first meeting 4-1 at home.
The Israelis did not have home advantage in the second leg in Serbia due to the conflict in the Middle East and three first half goals from Daniel Podence, Kostas Fortounis and Ayoub El Kaabi erased Robbie Keane’s lead before the break.
Eran Zahavi’s penalty gave Maccabi the lead again, but El Kaabi’s 25th goal of the season took the game into extra time. Stefan Jovetic and Youssef El Arabi then completed the comeback.
Fiorentina beat Maccabi Haifa 5-4 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Florence.
Antonin Barak’s goal was enough to take last season’s finalists into the last 16, although Anan Khalaili gave the Israelis hope in the closing stages.
Club Brugge overturned a 2-1 first-half deficit with a 3-0 win over Molde.
Lille did their damage in the first meeting as they progressed to the last 16 with a 4-1 aggregate score despite drawing 1-1 at home to Sturm Graz.
PAOK crushed Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 in Greece to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first meeting.
Fenerbahce had to rely on their 3-0 win in Belgium last week to progress 3-1 on aggregate after losing 1-0 at home to Union Saint-Gilloise.
Viktoria Plzen beat Servette in a penalty shootout after a goalless game for 210 minutes.