FC Barcelona lost the heavyweight duel in the first knockout round of the Europa League on Thursday evening (February 23, 2023).
The team around the German national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and the former Bayern star Robert Lewandowski missed the round of 16 with a 1: 2 (1: 0) at Manchester United. In the first leg, Barca couldn’t get past a 2-2 draw.
Former Bayern striker Lewandowski gave Barcelona the lead in the 18th minute with a penalty kick. Brazilians Fred (47′) and Antony (73′) turned the game around with their goals in favor of the English Premier League club.
Three-goal gala – Di María lets Juventus celebrate
Argentina’s world champion oldie Ángel Di María had shot Juventus Turin into the round of 16 – he decided the duel at FC Nantes almost single-handedly. In the 3-0 (2-0) he scored all three goals and also got the red card from Nantes defender Nicolas Pallois in the 19th minute, who fended off a shot by Di María just before the goal line with his hand. The Argentinian, who had already scored in the 5th minute, threw away the penalty due with a dream goal.
40 meters from his own goal, Moses Simon lost the ball to Nicoló Fagioli, who then served Di María on the right wing. The world champion then flicked the ball perfectly into the long corner from the corner of the penalty area.
Missed many chances
With one more man Juventus could have saved themselves stress after the 1-1 draw in the first leg if the many chances had been used better afterwards.
But Manuel Locatelli (37′) only hit the post, Filip Kostic (54′) and Juan Cuadrado (67′ and 77′) also missed several top-class shots before Di María eliminated all doubts about progress in the 79th minute: after a combination he ended his gala evening with the third goal via Alex Sandro and Dusan Vlahovic.
De Jong and Silva score too late for Eindhoven
PSV Eindhoven was eliminated in the first leg after a 3-0 loss at FC Sevilla. In the second leg, the Andalusians defended passionately for a long time and held a goalless draw until the 77th minute – then Dutch international striker Luuk de Jong scored (77th). and the Dutch began a rush.
But it was only in the fifth minute of added time that the attack was rewarded: Fabio Silva scored to make it 2-0, so in the end a goal was missing to at least force extra time.
Goncalves double for Sporting
Sporting Lisbon solved the task at FC Midtjylland very confidently. In the first leg, the Danes wrested a 1-1 draw from the Portuguese, but the second leg ended 4-0 (1-0) for Sporting. Sebastián Coates (21) gave the capitals the lead, but then Midtjylland weakened themselves with a yellow-red card for Paulinho in the 38th minute.
When the strength of the hosts waned in the second half, Pedro Goncalves increased the score to 3-0 with a brace (50′ and 77′), before Stefan Gartenmann made it 4-0 with an own goal (85′).