Realistically the winner of the Europa League is likely to be from one of Europe’s top leagues and so taking this into consideration we take a look at 3 games for this evening.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – Schalke 04
Manchester United – FC Rostov
Roma – Lyon
The first leg between Gladbach and Schalke ended in a 1-1 draw in Gelsenkirchen meaning that the tie was very much still for the taking for whoever was to be the better side this evening. As with the first leg, the game was an extremely tight affair. The first goal in the game was a rather fortunate one for BMG. Raffael whipped in a free-kick which was flicked on by striker Drmic and into the path of center back Christensen who was able to bundle the ball over the line. Schalke keeper Fahrmann was left hopeless following a deflection off Howedes. Schalke then responded with high pressure as they looked to get a hold of the game. Goretzka had multiple chances to put his side back on level terms but it just didn’t seem that lucky was in his favor. Then, very much against the run of play, Dahoud scored a screamer from the range for BMG to give them a two-goal lead. Schalke now needed two goals to win the game on aggregate. In the second half, the sides very much turned as Schalke came out on the front foot. It didn’t take long for them to fight back as at long last Leon Goretzka had his goal after many many attempts throughout the game. Schalke later got their winner as Nabil Bentaleb then scored from 11 meters to fire his side into the next round.
Manchester United against Russian side FC Rostov was somewhat contrasting to the game between the two German sides as overall the game was much quieter and less action packed. This was likely to be down to Jose Mourinho’s tactics. The Portuguese manager would have known that although scoring a few goals would be nice, United’s priority would be to not concede. With this in mind, they set up in a very flexible formation. 3 central defenders plus Valencia and Blind as wing backs meant that United was able to defend in numbers while also getting many people forwards in counter attacks. This clearly worked as the Manchester side were able to keep a clean sheet while also grabbing a goal through Juan Mata. A very unattractive game but one where United simply needed to get a job done, not necessarily in style.
The final game in the form of Roma – Lyon was a very exciting encounter. The first leg ended in a 4-2 victory for Lyon so there was much to look forward to in the second leg. Roma needed to win the game by at least 2 goals if they were to have any chance of progressing and they simply couldn’t afford to concede otherwise the task on their hands would be huge. Despite this need for a near perfect game, Lyon scored first. Defender Mouctar Diskhaby was able to connect with a cross and effectively dispatch a bullet header past Roma goalkeeper, Alisson. To be fair to Roma they fought straight back with a goal from Kevin Strootman in the following minute. They also grabbed another goal as Lucas Tousart unluckily turned the ball into his own net. However, this wasn’t enough for the Italian side as Lyon came out of the tie as 5-4 winners on aggregate and so progress to the quarter-final.
