Europa League round of 16 Results

Europa League: Juventus win 1-0 at Fiorentina (Juventus win 2-1 on aggregate)

Andrea Pirlo: Scored the winner for Juventus

A trademark free-kick from Andrea Pirlo sent Juventus through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League after they beat Italian rivals Fiorentina 1-0 on Thursday, 2-1 on aggregate.

Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Pirlo scored the only goal at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in the 71st minute by firing home from just outside the area.

That came moments after Fiorentina captain Gonzalo Rodriguez had collected a second yellow card for hauling down Fernando Llorente and it proved to be the defining moment of the contest as La Viola could not find a way back.

They came into the contest with a distinct advantage as Mario Gomez's late strike gave them an important away goal in the first leg.

The Italian league leaders were then given another let-off when Juan Guillermo Cuadrado was given plenty of space on the right but no Fiorentina attackers were on hand to provide the final touch to his dangerous low cross.

That seemed to galvanise Juventus, who started to find some rhythm as the half wore on and their pressing of Fiorentina off-the-ball nearly paid dividends when goalkeeper Murara Neto only just cleared the danger from Cuadrado's sloppy backpass.

Paul Pogba did well to chest down from a ball over the top, but Rodriguez did just enough to put the French midfielder off his stride and his shot with the outside of his right foot went harmlessly wide.

Yet La Viola ended the half strongly, although Josip Ilicic was wasteful when he shot over after Giorgio Chiellini had inadvertently headed into the Slovenian's path.

At the other end Arturo Vidal, who scored Juve's goal in the first leg, missed a gilt-edged chance after putting a free header over from Mauricio Isla's right-wing cross.

But the game changed in an instant in the 69th minute when Fiorentina were reduced to 10 men after skipper Rodriguez received his marching orders for a rash challenge on Llorente on the edge of the area.

And from the resulting set-piece, free-kick specialist Pirlo expertly thumped the ball into the top right-hand corner, past the outstretched hand of Neto.

Europa League: Tottenham draw 2-2 at Benfica on the night and lose 5-3 on aggregate

Tottenham: Came close to matching Benfica's first-leg win

Tottenham's Europa League challenge ended in a 2-2 draw at Benfica, who progress to the quarter-finals 5-3 on aggregate.

Spurs were always facing a tall order in Thursday's round-of-16 second-leg tie at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, after losing 3-1 in last week's encounter at White Hart Lane.Ezequiel Garay scored the opening goal in the 34th minute when he rose above Sandro to head home Eduardo Salvio's right-wing cross.That extended Benfica's aggregate advantage to three goals, but they were stunned in the 78th minute when Chadli drove home a fierce equaliser from outside the box.

Townsend: Dribbles through

The same player then swivelled and shot home from close range a minute later to put the visitors in front, and Spurs had a penalty appeal turned down in the 88th minute as substitute Harry Kane looked to be bundled over in the box.But instead, Benfica won a spot-kick at the other end in stoppage time when Sandro barged into Lima, and the same player stepped up to equalise on the night with the last kick of the game.

That ensured the Portuguese side's long unbeaten run was stretched to 26 games and that they would be in Friday's draw for the last eight Around 3,000 travelling supporters made the trip to Lisbon, where Tim Sherwood made five changes to the Spurs team that lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.

Brad Friedel replaced Hugo Lloris in goal, while Zeki Fryers came in at centre-back. With Jan Vertonghen suspended and Younes Kaboul injured, Sandro filled in in central defence, as Gylfi Sigurdsson was recalled into the midfield along with Aaron Lennon, who captained the team. Christian Eriksen dropped to the bench, which also consisted of Harry Kane and a host of reserve-team youngsters. Emmanuel Adebayor was also among the injury absentees, so Roberto Soldado led the line.

Luisao, who scored twice from set pieces in the first leg, directed a ninth-minute corner wide.Spurs had a chance of their own soon after when a corner was flicked on to the unmarked Soldado, who controlled well only to hit a strike into the ground and wide.A last-ditch block then meant the Spaniard was unable to convert Chadli's cut-back. The resulting corner saw Chadli head tamely wide.

Garay: Heads home opener

Benfica, though, went ahead on the night in the 34th minute as Salvio saw off Lennon and clipped in a fine ball for Garay to powerfully header home.Early in the second half, Sigurdsson almost latched onto a neat Andros Townsend ball from the left.

The England winger was enjoying his duel with Maxi Pereira - someone he may again come up against at the World Cup in the match with Uruguay - and soon impressively cut past him again, only for his fierce strike to hit the side-netting after a slight deflection.A wonderful Sandro tackle on Ruben Amorim thwarted the Benfica midfielder, before Guilherme Siqueira missed the goal marshalled by Friedel.

Chadli: Celebrates goal

Kane was brought on in a bid to grab a leveller and started a move that resulted in Chadli firing at Benfica goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who the Belgium international did beat with 12 minutes remaining as he cut in from the left and lashed home a 20-yard drive.Spurs then netted a quickfire second. Kane knocked a back-post Eriksen cross into the path of Chadli, who impressively turned to fire a left-footed half-volley into the far corner.

Lima: Netted late penalty

The visitors sensed a shock, and Luisao did well to deny Lennon the opportunity to roll into an empty net.Spurs continued to press after Salvio forced Friedel into a save, with Kane having penalty claims rejected by Slovenian referee Damir Skomina after being upended in the box by Miralem Sulejmani.

Oblak made fine saves to deny Sigurdsson and Kane as the visitors continued to press, only to get caught by a stoppage-time sucker-punch as Lima netted after being brought to the deck by Sandro.

Europa League: FC Porto knock out Napoli after 2-2 draw in Italy

Federico Fernandez and Steven Defour: Battle for the ball

Porto struck twice in the space of seven second-half minutes to knock Napoli out of the Europa League 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw.

The Italian side, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, had piled forward throughout the match and led through Goran Pandev's 20th minute goal.A second seemed a matter of time as the chances kept coming, but instead substitute Nabil Ghilas levelled for Porto in a 69th-minute counter-attack before Ricardo Quaresma killed off Napoli with brilliant individual effort, meaning Duvan Zapata's injury-time goal to make it 2-2 on the night was mere consolation.

Napoli hit the ground running in the first half as Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens had early efforts, and they were screaming for a penalty when Faouzi Ghoulam tumbled in the penalty area, but referee Martin Atkinson waved the appeals away.

Gonzalo Higuain should have put Napoli in front in the 16th minute when he latched on to a fine ball from Henrique but, with all the time he could need, he tried a first-time lob rather than taking a touch.Not that it mattered too much, however, as Pandev grabbed the opener moments later, beating the offside trap to race on to Higuain's pass and lift it over the goalkeeper.The hosts were well on top and kept the pressure coming as Mertens fired a low shot at goal after Insigne's free-kick struck the wall, with Fabiano doing well to cover.

There was a warning soon after as Porto went close with a rare attack, Jackson Martinez's header drifting just wide with the Pepe Reina beaten.But Mertens then flashed another fine effort narrowly wide for Napoli, and the half ended with Insigne firing the ball into the side-netting.Napoli looked to pick up in the second half where they had finished the first, with Insigne going close in the opening stages. Fabiano denied him, and then Pandev missed a glorious chance from the following corner before Ghoulam curled an effort wide.

A set-piece gave Porto a rare chance at the other end but Carlos Eduardo's glancing header bounced just the wrong side of the post, and Napoli quickly raced to the other end where Fabiano just did enough to turn Higuain's close-range effort around the post.Gokhan Inler went close with a header from the resulting corner and then Mertens drilled a shot just wide, but still the second goal would not come for the hosts.

The Porto goal seemed to be living a charmed life as another effort from Mertens looped over the crossbar and on to the roof of the net.Then, out of nowhere, Porto struck with a killer goal.Martinez was fouled in midfield but the referee played advantage and Fernando played in Ghilas, barely on the pitch five minutes, and he turned to lash it into the bottom corner.

Napoli were rocked, and just two minutes later, Steven Defour's almost nonchalant effort struck the outside of Reina's post as the visitors threatened to finish it off.It was effectively all over five minutes later as Quaresma wriggled his way through the Napoli defence and blasted the ball into the top corner of the net.Zapata fired in from close range in stoppage time, but it was too little, too late for Napoli.

Europa League: Sevilla beat Real Betis 2-0 (agg: 2-2; Sevilla win 4-3 on penalties)

Jose Antonio Reyes (right): Scored the opener for Sevilla

Sevilla made history as they recovered from a 2-0 first-leg deficit to knock arch-rivals Real Betis out of the Europa League last 16 following a penalty shoot-out.

No Sevilla side had ever won a European tie after losing the first leg at home, but Unai Emery's men levelled the scores up on aggregate thanks to goals in either half from Jose Antonio Reyes and Carlos Bacca at the Benito Villamarin on Thursday night.

That sent the game to extra-time and then penalties, where Sevilla won 4-3 despite seeing their first penalty from Vitolo saved by Antonio Adan.Betis looked to be on their way through to the quarter-finals after that miss as Ruben Castra, Salva Sevilla and Antonio Amaya all emphatically crashed home unstoppable penalties.

However, Sevilla kept in touch, and Betis lost their advantage when Alfred N'Diaye's effort came back off the post.Sevilla midfielder Ivan Rakitic then slotted home to put his side 4-3 up, heaping the pressure on Betis substitute Jose Nono, who subsequently produced the worst kick of the shoot-out as his soft effort was saved by Antonio Beto to give the visitors victory.

After the first-leg upset, Sevilla would have been desperate for an early goal to both give themselves a lifeline and also try to deflate the home crowd, and they got the breakthrough they were looking for inside the opening 20 minutes.The Betis defence failed to cut out Alberto Moreno's cross the left and the ball fell to Reyes near the penalty spot, where the former Real Madrid winger swept a first-time shot past Adan.

That was almost the ideal start for the 2006 and 2007 UEFA Cup winners, but Betis steeled themselves after that setback and the visitors found it hard to create much else in the first half.In fact, they had to wait until the 49th minute for their next decent opening, when Stephane Mbia very nearly found the back of the net only to be denied by the feet of Adan.

Betis responded to that scare by creating two good chances of their own, both of which were missed by first-leg goalscorer Leo Baptistao.His first effort was a hopelessly mis-hit strike from the edge of the area, but the second was much cleaner and it needed the outstretched foot of Beto to keep it from drawing Betis level on the night.

A goal then would probably have ended the tie but Sevilla survived and, with 15 minutes to go, got the goal that levelled things up on aggregate.Highly-rated full-back Moreno was again involved with a superb low cross from the left that was inch-perfect for Bacca to sidefoot home from eight yards out.Bacca's strike sent the match to extra-time, despite some late Betis pressure, and the additional 30 minutes could not separate the two rivals either.

That was largely because of a brilliant double save from Adan in the 104th minute to keep out Kevin Gameiro's shot and Bacca's header from the rebound.Adan then gave his side a flying start in the penalty shoot-out when he saved Vitolo's opening effort, but it was his Sevilla counterpart Beto who was celebrating at the end as he pushed wide Nono's spot-kick.

Europa League: Valencia beat Ludogorets 1-0 to reach quarter-finals

Paco Alcacer: Hit the winner for Valencia

Valencia cruised into the quarter-finals of the Europa League as they saw off Ludogorets 1-0 to complete a straightforward 4-0 aggregate win.

A 3-0 first-leg victory away from home had all but settled this tie last week, but Paco Alcacer's header early in the second half made absolutely sure in a match largely devoid of drama.

Ludogorets started both halves of the match brightly, but after Diego Alves made a fine save to deny Roman Bezjak and then saw Mihail Aleksandrov blaze wide on the rebound in the 64th minute, their challenge was over.The visitors did at least show promise in the early stages, with Vura's early free-kick touched over before Junior Caicara cut in from the right before pulling his shot wide.

Hristo Zlatinski then misfired from a good position and Ludogorets' early momentum began to dissipate without any reward.Michel volleyed over for Valencia in the 16th minute before Javi Fuego's header was saved by Vladislav Stoyanov, and Federico Cartabia sent a free-kick into the wall.

As time ticked down in the first half, Zlatinski tried his luck from range but it was Valencia who went closest to scoring before the break with Dani Parejo's drilled free-kick striking the crossbar and bouncing down before the visitors scrambled it clear.

Ludogorets again started strongly but Vura's powerful lot shot was turned away for a corner after a good move.Bezjak should have done better after some fine attacking play left him clear in front of goal but after Alves turned the ball away, the curtain came down on Ludogorets' best European campaign to date.

Europa League: Viktoria Plzen 2 Lyon 1 (Lyon win 5-3 on aggregate)

Bafetimbi Gomis: Scored Lyon's only goal of the evening

Lyon survived a scare to advance to the Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-3 aggregate win over Viktoria Plzen despite going down to 2-1 defeat in the Czech Republic.

Remi Garde's men came into the match with a 4-1 advantage from the first leg and the tie looked to be dead and buried when Bafetimbi Gomis fired them ahead on the night late in the first half.

But two quick-fire goals from Daniel Kolar and Stanislav Tecl gave the home side the lead and the latter had the chance to really apply the pressure from the penalty spot shortly after.Tecl hit the post with his spot-kick, however, and it finished 2-1 on the night with Lyon moving through.The Czech side had spoken before the game of the need for an early goal and a chance presented itself in just the third minute as Kolar scuffed wide from close range.

The home team were having the bulk of the possession and Tomas Horava and Milan Petrzela both had chances which missed the target but it was Lyon who came closest to breaking the deadlock.Yoann Gourcuff swung a cross in from the right and Corentin Tolisso got on the end of it only to see his header come bouncing back off the post.Plzen soon had a good chance of their own as Marian Cisovsky got on the end of a hopeful ball but his shot was brilliantly palmed away by Anthony Lopes.

Kolar then put a shot over the bar but any hope of an upset was effectively ended in first-half injury time as Gomis fired Lyon in front.A ball from Milan Bisevac found the France international who cut into the box and unleashed a shot from 18 yards which went beyond Petr Bolek and into the far corner.

Bakary Kone headed wide just after the break as Lyon attempted to extend their lead before two goals in as many minutes offered the home side a glimmer of hope.Kolar finally got the goal he had been pushing for all evening on the hour mark as he slotted home low from Patrik Hrosovsky's cross.

And just moments later Plzen were ahead on the night when Tecl headed home Petrzela's delivery from six yards.The Czechs must then have thought the comeback was really on as, 19 minutes from time, Mouhamadou Dabo clipped the heels of Michal Durisin the penalty box.

Tecl stepped up to take the chance to reduce the aggregate deficit to just one but he hit the post after sending the goalkeeper the wrong way and the ball rebounded to safety.Plzen continued to press in the closing stages but could not break Lyon down as the French side progressed to the last-eight.

Europa League: AZ Alkmaar progress after 0-0 draw with Anzhi (1-0 agg)

Nemanja Gudelj (r): Vies with Anzhi's Karlen Mkrtchyan

AZ Alkmaar booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League with a 1-0 aggregate win following their goalless draw with Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia on Thursday night.

The visitors defended their 1-0 lead from the home leg without any major scares and indeed went closest to scoring themselves when Nemanja Gudelj's first-half free-kick hit a post.Anzhi, bottom of the Russian Premier League, finished the match with 10 men following the injury-time dismissal of Karlen Mkrtchyan.The Russians started with the greater purpose, Gia Grigalava firing over and Oleksandr Aliyev shooting wide as they looked to wipe out their first-leg deficit early on.

The Dutch outfit struggled to get going and Fedor Smolov volleyed over Esteban Alvarado's goal.AZ came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 33rd minute, though, as Gudelj's superb free-kick from left of centre struck a post.The visitors threatened again soon after the break as Aron Johannsson, whose penalty decided the first leg, unleashed a 20-yard drive which was tipped over by Mihail Kerzhakov.

And the Anzhi goalkeeper came to his side's rescue again on the hour mark, producing a fine reflex parry to keep out the same player's shot from inside the area as the hosts had to start taking more risks.At the other end Serder Serderov had a shot blocked by Etienne Reijnen, but the home side's frustration got the better of them two minutes into stoppage time.Mkrtchyan saw a straight red for a foul on Steven Berghuis as Anzhi's European campaign came to an end.

Salzburg 1-2 Basel (Agg 1-2): Streller & Sauro send Swiss through in thrilling tie

The match had to be halted due to objects being thrown, at which point the hosts were leading, but the visitors' fought back to win with 10 men in a topsy turvy clash

Getty

Basel fought back from a goal down with 10 men in a volatile and thrilling clash to eliminate Salzburgfrom the Europa League 2-1 on Thursday.
In a bad-tempered game that saw the players leave the pitch for 13 minutes in the first half due to crowd unrest and eventually finished with both sides down a man, Basel responded superbly to Marek Suchy's ninth-minute dismissal for a crude tackle.

Jonatan Soriano put Salzburg ahead before Marco Streller and Gaston Sauro scored twice in the space of 10 second-half minutes to turn the last 16-tie on its head as Basel wrapped up a 2-1 aggregate win. On a night of high drama in Austria on Thursday, Basel fans - frustrated at falling behind to Soriano's goal and Suchy's red card - threw objects when Salzburg's players tried to take corners, an incident that led to them leaving the pitch until things calmed down.

Controversy was never far away after the restart and Basel's Arlind Ajeti was lucky not to see red for an apparent headbutt. And he made the most of his good fortune by setting up Sauro to head in a 60th-minute winner to kill the game off.
Salzburg's misery was compounded four minutes from time when Alan received a second yellow and was dismissed.The first-leg stalemate ended Salzburg's 10-game European winning run dating back to the start of this season's play-offs, but the home side started positively with both Sadio Mane and Kevin Kampl firing wide.

And Basel's task became even tougher after eight minutes when Suchy was shown a straight red card after catching Alan late from behind.
Roger Schmidt's side went about their task with added zest following Suchy's dismissal and Kampl should have ended a flowing move with a goal only to completely miss Mane's low cross with the net at his mercy.

And they made their numerical advantage count when Kampl crossed for Soriano to volley in from close range.Mane should have doubled the lead but Yann Sommer tipped his effort over.
Frustration boiled over for Basel's fans as they threw objects at the Salzburg players while they were taking corners. And, despite the pleas of Streller, the situation did not improve and the home side walked off in protest.

After 13 minutes, play resumed and Philipp Degen saw an effort deflected on to the roof of the net.Basel regrouped at half-time and Streller claimed a vital away goal with a superb back-post header.just after gaining the advantage in the tie, Basel were lucky not to be punished for a moment of madness when Ajeti seemed to headbutt Alan, but got away with a booking.
Lucky to still be on the pitch, Ajeti grabbed his reprieve with both hands and played a pivotal part in Basel taking the lead when he nodded a deep corner back across goal for Sauro to head in.