While You Were Asleep: Barcelona, Man United play 2-2 thriller in Europa League, Juventus undergo extra frustration in draw with Nantes

Barcelona and Manchester United served up an exhilarating 2-2 draw within the Europa League knockout playoffs Thursday that outranked something seen within the Champions League this week.

The former European champions traded leads in a back-and-forth second half of their first-leg recreation at Camp Nou.

Barcelona struck first within the fiftieth minute on defender Marcos Alonso’s header from a nook and leveled within the 76th when Raphinha’s cross from the best wing curled into the web untouched. United’s protection was distracted by Robert Lewandowski’s failed try to attach.

In between, Marcus Rashford confirmed simply why Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández described him as some of the harmful forwards in Europe.

Barcelona’s Andreas Christensen, left, Ronald Araujo, middle, and Gavi are seen after the tip of the Europa League playoff first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Manchester United on the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. The recreation ended 2-2. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Rashford beat goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen at his close to put up with a shot from a decent angle within the 53rd then created United’s go-ahead purpose seven minutes later.

Receiving the ball on the touchline from a nook taken brief, Rashford dribbled into the penalty space then fired a low cross that was flicked on by Bruno Fernandes and bounced as much as ricochet into the web off defender Jules Koundé for an personal purpose.

EUROPA LEAGUE

A recreation between two former Champions League finalists noticed Monaco captain Axel Disasi rating with a long-range shot in stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen.

Juventus was held 1-1 by Nantes, after main within the thirteenth on Dušan Vlahović’s purpose, and appeared certain to be awarded a penalty for a handball within the fifth minute of stoppage time. Instead, after a two-minute overview and consulting the pitchside display screen, Portuguese referee João Pinheiro awarded Nantes a free kick for a foul by the Juventus participant Bremer.

Shakhtar Donetsk’s first aggressive recreation of 2023 in the course of the midwinter break for the Ukrainian league was a 2-1 win over Rennes in a “home” recreation performed in impartial Warsaw.

Shakhtar’s first recreation since promoting star winger Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea noticed his substitute on the left flank, Dmytro Kryskiv, open the scoring within the eleventh minute.

Sevilla, the file six-time champion, eased to a 3-0 win over PSV Eindhoven, and Salzburg will take a 1-0 result in Roma subsequent week due to Nicolas Capaldo’s header within the 88th. Coach José Mourinho’s staff nearly leveled when Andrea Belotti’s header was pushed on to the crossbar by goalkeeper Philipp Köhn.

Ajax drew 0-0 at dwelling to Union Berlin, the shock Bundesliga title challenger. Sporting Lisbon acquired a stoppage-time purpose from defender Sebastian Coates to attract 1-1 with Midtjylland.

EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Fiorentina’s 4-0 rout of dwelling staff Braga was the standout efficiency within the Europa Conference League knockout playoffs.

Forwards Luka Jović and substitute Arthur Cabral every scored twice, and Braga had defender Vitor Tormena despatched off for a late deal with on Jović.

Five of the eight video games led to 1-0 wins for the house staff: Trabzonspor over Basel, Qarabağ in opposition to Gent, Ludogorets over Anderlecht, and AEK Larnaca in opposition to Dnipro-1 of Ukraine.

Lazio’s purpose in opposition to Cluj by Ciro Immobile got here deep in first-half stoppage time after Lazio defender Patric was despatched off. It was 0-0 in Norway between Bodø/Glimt and Lech Poznan.

In Moldova, Sheriff misplaced 1-0 to visiting Partizan of Serbia in a recreation performed in an empty stadium, ordered by nationwide authorities citing concern about an alleged Russian-backed plot to overthrow the federal government. – AP

Juventus undergo extra frustration in draw with Nantes

Juventus’s disappointing season continued as they have been held to a 1-1 draw by Nantes within the dwelling leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday.

Juventus picked up one win from six Champions League group matches to drop into the Europa League playoffs and after additionally being deducted 15 Serie A factors for monetary irregularities their followers have endured a depressing marketing campaign.

The playoff got here as welcome reduction for the Turin giants in opposition to a facet mendacity thirteenth in French Ligue 1 and the hosts raced into an early lead when Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic swept dwelling Federico Chiesa’s header throughout purpose.

Chiesa was unlucky to not double his facet’s benefit early within the second half after his highly effective effort hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced on the purpose line and got here out.

Nantes capitalised on that let-off, nevertheless, to attain a tremendous equaliser on the hour mark, Ludovic Blas slamming the ball into the web following a swift counter-attack.

The Nantes woodwork was once more rattled when Angel Di Maria’s nook evaded everybody and clipped the crossbar, however a winner eluded Juve on one other irritating night. – Reuters