Roundup of the Round of 16 action in 2023-24 UEFA Europa League.
Brighton, Liverpool, Rangers and West Ham all began this round with their eyes on a Quarter-Final spot, yet every tie delivered plenty of twists and turns as only two British teams managed to reach the last eight.
Here’s a roundup of all eight ties across the Round of 16, which as usual was played across two legs.
Sparta Prague 2-11 Liverpool
Darwin Nunez’s brace after Alexis Mac Allister’s sixth-minute penalty saw Liverpool triumph 5-1 in the first leg, with Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai also on the scoresheet despite Connor Bradley’s own-goal.
Goals from Nunez, Bobby Clark, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo sent Liverpool on course for a 6-1 home win in the second leg and 11-2 on aggregate, whilst Gakpo netted a second goal and Szoboszlai scored after half-time.
Marseille 5-3 Villarreal
Jordan Veretout fired Marseille to a 4-0 first leg win at home during which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice after Yerson Mosquera netted an own-goal.
Jonathan Clauss’ injury-time goal eventually saw Marseille prevail 5-3 on aggregate after Etienne Capoue, Alexander Sorloth and Mosquera threatened a Villarreal comeback with a 3-1 second leg victory at home.
AS Roma 4-1 Brighton
Goals from Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku, Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante saw Roma thrash Brighton 4-0 in the first leg.
Danny Welbeck minimised Brighton’s eventual aggregate defeat with a 37th minute curled winner in the second leg at the AMEX Stadium.
Benfica 3-2 Rangers
Angel Di Maria’s penalty and Connor Goldson’s own-goal saw Benfica snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Rangers, after Tom Lawrence and Dujon Sterling had put the visitors in front twice.
Rafael Silva’s 66th minute counter-attack winner saw Benfica clinch a second leg win at Ibrox to triumph 3-2 on aggregate.
Freiburg 1-5 West Ham
Michael Gregoritsch punished wasteful finishing by West Ham with a first leg winner for Freiburg at home in the 81st minute.
Strikes from Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Creswell and Mohammed Kudus’s brace completed a 5-1 aggregate comeback with a 5-0 second leg win, after Lucas Paqueta had netted a ninth minute opener at the London Stadium.
Sporting Lisbon 2-3 Atalanta
Paulinho’s 17th minute goal was cancelled out by Gianluca Scamacca’s equaliser as Atalanta came from behind to draw 1-1 against Sporting Lisbon in the first leg at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Second-half goals from Ademola Lookman and Scamacca saw Atalanta come from behind to win the second leg 2-1 at home and 3-2 on aggregate, after Pedro Goncalves had put Sporting Lisbon into a half-time lead.
AC Milan 7-3 Slavia Prague
Olivier Giroud, Tijjani Reijnders, Reuben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic all netted in a 4-2 home win for AC Milan, despite David Doudera and Ivan Schranz’s goals for Slavia Prague.
Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao added further goals as AC Milan won 3-1 in the second leg to take a 7-3 aggregate victory, whilst Matej Jurasek netted a consolatory goal for Slavia.
Qarabag 4-5 Bayer Leverkusen
Second-half goals from Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick saw Bayer Leverkusen come from 2-0 down to snatch a first-leg 2-2 draw, after Yassine Benzia and Juninho had put Qarabag ahead at half-time.
Abdellah Zoubir and Juninho seemingly put Qarabag on course for a shock cupset but Schick’s late brace and Jeremie Frimpong’s effort saw Bayer Leverkusen recover to win 3-2 at home and 5-4 on aggregate.
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