Roundup of Quarter-Final action in 2023-24 UEFA Europa League.
Liverpool began this round as one of the hot title favourites but were handed an unexpectedly tough contest against Atalanta.
West Ham looked to chase consecutive European titles and achieve a feat that no other team managed this season against newly-crowned Bundesliga champions – Bayer Leverkusen who were yet to lose this season.
AC Milan and Roma locked horns in an Italian derby whilst Benfica met Marseille in a tricky Quarter-Final tie.
Liverpool 1-3 Atalanta
Gianluca Scamacca’s brace and Mario Pasalic’s late strike saw Atalanta stun a wasteful Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield in the first leg.
Mohamed Salah’s seventh minute penalty saw Liverpool scrape a second leg away victory but Atalanta clung on for a 3-1 aggregate win, which ended the Reds’ European journey under out-going manager, Jurgen Klopp.
Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 West Ham
Jonas Hoffman fired Bayer Leverkusen to a 2-0 first leg victory at home after he rifled in a 83rd minute goal, before he turned provider to create Victor Boniface’s injury-time header to beat West Ham in a late clinical performance.
Michail Antonio’s first-half goal offered West Ham hope of turning this tie around in East London but Jeremie Frimpong’s 89th minute equaliser settled a 1-1 draw on the night, as Leverkusen advanced 3-1 on aggregate.
AC Milan 1-3 Roma
Gianluca Mancini’s 17th minute header saw Roma scrape an away win in the first leg in a tightly-fought battle against AC Milan at the San Siro.
Mancini added his second goal of the tie in a 2-1 second leg win as Paulo Dybala wrapped up a 3-1 aggregate victory, and 2-1 at home in the second leg as Matteo Gabbia netted for AC Milan after Mehmet Zeki Celik’s red card for the hosts.
Benfica 2-2 Marseille (Marseille win 4-2 on penalties)
Rafa Silva and Angel Di Maria’s strikes saw Benfica win the first leg 2-1 at home, despite Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netting a 67th minute consolatory goal for Marseille.
Marseille substitute, Faris Moumbagna netted the only goal of the second leg, which ultimately levelled the tie 2-2 on aggregate but Marseille advanced 4-2 on penalties after Benfica’s Di Maria and Antonio Silva saw their spot-kicks denied.
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