February 16, (THEWILL) – AS Roma secured a valuable 1-1 draw against Dutch side Feyenoord in the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday, thanks to a second-half equaliser from striker Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgian international showed his strength to force the ball home from close range after a cross from Leonardo Spinazzola.
Igor Paixao had given Feyenoord a slender lead at the break, outjumping the Roma defence to head home a cross on the stroke of half-time. However, Lukaku’s goal means it is all to play for in next week’s second leg in Rome between two sides who have built up a rivalry after meeting in Europe in each of the last three seasons.
There was late drama for Galatasaray as they beat Sparta Prague 3-2 in Istanbul. The Turkish side twice took the lead through Kerem Demirbay and Dries Mertens but were pegged back both times before Mauro Icardi struck an 89th-minute winner.
Meanwhile, Sporting Lisbon will take a 3-1 lead to Young Boys Berne in the second leg after goals from Aurele Amenda (OG), Viktor Gyokeres and Goncalo Inacio gave them a comfortable victory in Switzerland.
The clash between Shakhtar Donetsk and Marseille finished 2-2 apiece after extra time drama. Shakhtar twice came from behind, first through Mykola Matviyenko then Eguinaldo deep into added time after Marseille thought they had won it through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and summer signing Iliman Ndiaye.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
