BEVERLY HILLS, February 26, (THEWILL) – On Thursday, the round of 32 of the UEFA Europa League concluded with the expected halving of the field and the usual unexpected result in at least one of the matches. English Premier League sides like Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur went through just as clubs like AC Milan and Rangers secured their round of 16 spots.
But for the likes of Victor Osimhen’s Serie A side Napoli, Wilfred Ndidi’s EPL club Leicester City and Kevin Akpoguma’s Bundesliga outfit TSG Hoffenheim, it was the end of the road.
North London side Arsenal had one of the most dramatic wins of the final day. They ended up needing to find two goals in the final 25 minutes to advance against Benfica after Real Madrid loanee Dani Ceballos made a routine match all the more difficult with two unforced errors. The excellence of teenage sensation Bukayo Saka was the redeeming quality for the Gunners.
For the umpteenth time this season, Saka made the difference, coming up with Arsenal’s trump card when they most needed him to. He teed up a late Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang header to earn the Gunners their 3-2 win over Benfica in what was a home match but played at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskaki in Athens, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Saka’s brilliant through ball to Aubameyang was nodded into the near post by the free captain of the side to secure a stunning win for the Gunners that takes them through to the last 16, even though they had to first survive the scare of another equaliser when Benfica’s Nuno Tavares’s header struck the woodwork at the end of injury time.
For Manchester United, the odds of their not qualifying were nonexistent as they went into their second leg tie against Real Sociedad with a huge four-goal advantage from the previous leg. Despite that long shot, Real Sociedad came out with an intent to play instead of sit back, and impressively pressed for an early chance on goal and were rewarded with a penalty in the 13th minute.
Yet, the moment that could have perhaps established a tempo change for the match, was completely squandered when Mikel Oyarzabal struck his spot-kick wide and over the bar. From then on, it was United’s game to lose. Though opportunities came for Bruno Fernandes and Daniel James, the game remained scoreless. Alex Tuanzebe thought he had his debut goal to celebrate, but VAR called it off. And, that was how it ended to United’s advantage.
Ndidi’s Leicester can only blame themselves and their lethargic prosecution of their final match in the round for crashing out of the Europa League after a tame 2-0 defeat to Czech club Slavia Prague. The more determined and efficient Slavia deserved to progress over the misfiring Foxes, who never got going. Their exit is but an unfortunate continuation of the Europa Curse of Brendan Rodgers.
The Leicester boss has never reached the last 16 of the competition and it has not been for want of trying after four attempts with some of the top teams on the continent such as Liverpool, Celtic and his latest miss on Thursday with the Foxes. It’s a strange case of déjà vu as the wheels began to fall off Leicester’s Champions League hopes this time last season, and they ended up fifth. They now must ensure this blow does not cause lasting damage.
For Napoli, there was no turning back as Gennaro Gattuso’s men hosted La Liga side Granada at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in a second leg they had to win by two goals or more to keep their Europa League dream alive after a first leg deficit of 2-0.
Although Napoli showed enormous levels of perseverance to turn the game to their favor in the second half in the absence of the still recovering Osimhen, they were unable to spark a miracle and suffered an early Europa League exit despite a 2-1 home win.
With the qualifications settled, the field for the Round of 16 now stands as:
Tottenham
AS Roma
Dinamo Kiev
Manchester United
Milan
Slavia Prague
Dinamo Zagreb
Young Boys
Olympiacos
Arsenal
Rangers
Villarreal
Molde
Granada
Shakhtar Donetsk
Ajax
The Europa League round of 16 draw is set for Friday at noon GMT.
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.
