Portugal’s two representatives in the Europa League had differing fortunes last night, with the first-leg results weighing heavily on the final outcome. Sporting crashed out of Europe for another season after a 1-1 draw in Spain against Villarreal resulted in a 2-1 aggregate defeat, while Benfica’s goalless draw against Galatasaray at the Estádio da Luz was enough to see the Eagles into the last 16 thanks to last week’s victory in Turkey.
Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo experienced an unhappy return to Madrid with Juventus in their 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid, and it was a bad week for coaching duo Paulo Fonseca and Pedro Martins, who suffered elimination with Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiakos respectively. There was better news in European competition for the likes of Bernardo Silva, Anthony Lopes and Gonçalo Guedes.
Villarreal 1-1 Sporting (agg. 2-1)
Sporting coach Marcel Keizer stuck to the new 3-4-3 system that had worked well against Braga at the weekend, with Jefferson coming in for the suspended Marcos Acuña.
But truth be told the Lions were unable to get their attacking game going all match, threatening only at the end of each half. The hosts refused to rest on their 1-0 advantage brought from Lisbon and were immediately on the front foot, Pablo Fornals forcing Romain Salin into a sharp save early on.
It set the tone for the first half with Salin denying the Spaniards on three further occasions and the hosts also had a goal ruled out for offside, but completely against the run of play Sporting took the lead on the stroke of half time. Bruno Fernandes robbed the ball just inside his own half, sprinted half the length of the pitch and dispatched an unerring shot into the corner of the net to level things up on aggregate.
Jefferson red
Things were suddenly looking up for Sporting, but the Portuguese team were dealt a cruel blow early in the second half when the referee showed Jefferson a second yellow card and subsequent red. To say the decision was harsh is an understatement, given that it appeared it was the Brazilian who had been fouled and not the other way round.
Inevitably, the home side poured forward in search of the winning goal, but with Salin again in evidence it appeared Sporting may hold out for extra time. However, in the 80th minute two Villarreal substitutes Cazorla and Ekambi combined to set up Fornals, who fired into the net from 15 yards.
Sporting had shown nothing in attack all game, yet the visitors almost grabbed a dramatic late winner, but Bas Dost could not direct a Bruno Fernandes cross on target and Sporting continue their terrible record in Spain – where they have never won a competitive game – and wave goodbye to Europe for 2018/19.
Benfica 0-0 Galatasaray (agg. 2-1)
Bruno Lage’s Benfica continue to prosper, as the Eagles comfortably booked their place in the last 16 of the Europa League having done the hard work last week in Istanbul.
A feature of Lage’s tenure as Benfica coach has been his willingness to make full use of the Lisbon club’s academy players, and this policy was in evidence again as Florentino Luís and Gedson Fernandes , 19 and 20 years old respectively, were selected as the spine of the midfield, with both players performing admirably.
In a low-key match of few chances, Benfica were always in control. A quick break saw Franco Cervi slide an effort narrowly wide before Pizzi brought a diving save out of Muslera in a first half when the Turks did not threaten once.
The second half was a similar story, with João Félix blasting a chance over from close range and Benfica goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos largely a spectator. Only late on did Galatasaray show their teeth, twice putting the ball in the net but on both occasions the referee ruled out the goals for offside and the Eagles serenely go into Friday’s draw.
Unhappy Madrid return for Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus face an uphill task to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League after two set-piece goals in the second half for Atletico Madrid gave the Spaniards a 2-0 win in the first leg of their clash in the Spanish capital.
Ronaldo was largely neutralised by Diego Simeone’s men, who had already seen one goal by Alvaro Morata chalked off before Uruguayan central defensive pair Jose Gimenez (78') and Diego Godin (83') took advantage of the Italian champions’ inability to successfully defend Atleti set pieces. João Cancelo was thrown on by Juve boss Max Allegri for the last five minutes.
After the match Ronaldo was recorded on camera responding to taunts from Atletico fans as he left the stadium, with the Portugal captain reminding the Spanish supporters that he has won five Champions League medals while Atletico have never won the competition. Ronaldo will be hoping to keep his dream of a 6th title alive when the teams meet for the return in Turin on 12th March.
? #DirectoGol
— GOL (@Gol) February 20, 2019
? El mensaje de @Cristiano al abandonar el Metropolitano:
➡ "Tengo cinco Champions y el @Atleti cero" pic.twitter.com/Xi8tghOkeu
Lopes again in form as Lyon hold Barcelona
Anthony Lopes is having what many regard as his best season in goal for French club Lyon, and the Portuguese international goalkeeper was again in strong form as his side held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw in their Champions League last-16 match at the Groupama Stadium
The visitors had Nélson Semedo in their side alongside big-hitters Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele. However, Lyon stood firm to deny the Spanish champions an away goal, with Lopes telling local reporters after the game that his side have a chance of progress when they travel to Camp Nou next month.
"It's good to get a clean sheet, especially against a club like Barça,” Lopes said. “We didn't suffer too badly in the second half. We didn't create chances that would've allowed us to score early in the second half. There was a big opponent in front of us. We knew how to be strong, to not to concede a goal, which would have put us in danger in the second leg. The match is open. There's still the second leg to play. Anything is possible."
Elsewhere in the Champions League this week, Bernardo Silva played the full ninety minutes as 10-man Manchester City came from behind to beat Schalke in Germany. City had seen Nicolas Otamendi sent off in the second half as they trailed 2-1 at the Veltins Arena, but late goals from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling gave Bernardo and City an impressive win.
Renato Sanches was involved for just the last two minutes of German champions’ Bayern Munich’s goalless draw with Liverpool at Anfield. Sanches was introduced in the 88th minute as the visitors looked to run the clock down and leave England with the scoreline level ahead of the return at the Allianz Arena next month.
Fonseca humble in defeat after Shakhtar beaten
Portuguese boss Paulo Fonseca admitted his team were fairly beaten after Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk lost 4-1 to Frankfurt in Germany in their second leg clash, meaning a 6-3 defeat overall in the tie.
Shakhtar travelled to Germany with the first leg squared at 2-2, having been disadvantaged by an early red card in the first leg in Kharkiv. Things never really looked like going their way at the Commerzbank-Arena in the return, with Fonseca’s men finding themselves 2-0 down inside 27 minutes after goals from Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller, who scored from the penalty spot.
The visitors reacted in the second half and Junior Moraes’ goal just after the hour mark put Shakhtar back in contention at 2-1, making the next goal crucial for the tie. Both sides had chances to get the vital fourth goal of the game, but Frankfurt eventually broke through ten minutes from time with Haller’s second, and Croatian international Ante Rebic made it 4-1 with a few minutes on the clock.
“Eintracht reached our goal for the first time and netted one,” Fonseca said during his post-match analysis. “At 0-2 early in the game, it’s really difficult to change its outcome. Moreover, the first goal was scored in the situation that we had fully studied, with three of our players and one Eintracht man in the box. We just can’t give goals away like that.
“I want to congratulate Eintracht, they are through to the next round absolutely rightly. When you score six goals against your opponent, you deserve to advance further. Analysing the game, from the off they felt quite comfortable: upon reaching our goal for the first time, they scored, then followed a spot kick and the score got 2-0.
“They are a very strong and experienced team. Frankfurt did what happens not that often: they made it more difficult for us in terms of creating the scoring chances. Nevertheless, we reacted in the second half: we managed to net one, there also were two more chances to score. The hosts, in turn, very competently counter-attacked and managed to score another one.
“Anyway, I can only congratulate Eintracht, wish them good luck and to advance as far as possible.”
Martins regrets Olympiakos exit: “The more effective team wins”
Pedro Martins admitted his Olympiakos side was left to count the cost of not being clinical enough in front of goal after being eliminated from the Europa League 3-2 on aggregate by Dinamo Kiev, following a 1-0 defeat in Ukraine.
The teams played out an entertaining 2-2 in the first leg in Greece last week, but it was a solitary goal by Spaniard Fran Sol just after the half-hour mark that saw Kiev advance in the return. Olympiakos, who had José Sa in goal, Daniel Podence in midfield and Gil Dias in attack, had opportunities in the second half but lacked quality in front of goal.
After the match, a Greek journalist put it to Martins that Olympiakos were the better side over the two legs. “It is somewhat the way you describe it,” the Portuguese responded. “The important thing is that both matches were balanced in terms of possession, passing, tactics, perhaps even in opportunities. In the first match we could have made it either 2-0 or 3-1 against the opponent.
The same happened today: Dynamo took advantage of their opportunity, they basically scored at the first opportunity whereas we didn’t score even if we had ample opportunities. We weren’t effective and at this stage it costs. At this stage it’s the being effective that counts. You need to take advantage of the opportunities that you create and we failed to do that.
“If we take a look at both matches, we can say that our team may have played better at some points but we weren’t effective. You have to take advantage of the opportunities you have, be focused and get the result. It’s not always the better team that wins but the one that’s more effective. Well that team wasn’t us.”
André Silva, Gonçalo Guedes and Cédric through; William out with Betis
It was a typically mixed week elsewhere for Portuguese in the Europa League, with Sevilla becoming the first team through to the next round during the early game with Lazio on Wednesday. The Spaniards were without Daniel Carriço but had André Silva in the line-up for a 2-0 home victory over Italians, resulting in a comfortable 3-0 aggregate win.
There was less good news for William Carvalho and Sevilla’s city rivals Real Betis, who were beaten 3-1 at home by French side Rennes with the Portugal man in midfield. The teams had shared six goals in a spectacular 3-3 draw in France, but Carvalho’s men were unable to live with their opponents during the second meeting on home soil.
Gonçalo Guedes was given his first start for Valencia since December as Los Ches beat Celtic 1-0 at the Mestalla to complete a 3-0 aggregate win. The former Benfica man recently spent two months on the sidelines with injury. There were also routine wins for Inter, with Cédric Soares, who beat Rapid Vienna 4-0 to progress 5-0 on aggregate, while a Napoli side without Mário Rui cruised past Swiss outfit Zurich 5-1 on aggregate after a 2-0 win in Italy.
By Tom Kundert & Sean Gillen
