Europa League roundup: Leverkusen, Roma and Royale Union all through to the quarter-finals
Ferencvaros 0 Bayer Leverkusen 2
Bayer Leverkusen ensured their place in the quarter-finals of this season’s Europa League via an easy 4-0 aggregate scoreline, as Moussa Diaby’s goal and assist helped them to a 2-0 second-leg victory in their last-16 clash against Ferencvaros, and a fourth consecutive win in all competitions.
Having taken the lead within the first 10 minutes of their 2-0 first-leg victory at BayArena, Leverkusen hit the ground running once again, extending their aggregate lead with just three minutes gone.
Second only to Karim Adeyemi for top speed in the Bundesliga this season, Diaby used his immense pace to beat Mats Knoester to a long ball from Edmond Tapsoba, bearing down on goal and rolling his shot underneath Denes Dibusz at the near post to silence a bumper crowd in attendance at the Puskas Arena.
Despite this, there was a strong response from Ferencvaros, and they pinned Leverkusen in their own territory for most of the remaining first-half minutes.
An equaliser nearly came after a long shot deflected kindly off Piero Hincapie to Amer Gojak, but the Bosnian international’s attempt was denied by the outstretched foot of Lukas Hradecky.
In response, the visitors played effectively on the counterattack, and attempts by both Jeremie Frimpong and Tapsoba were thwarted by Dibusz before Adama Traore saw his deflected shot strike the bar at the other end.
With a three-goal deficit to makeup, the home side pushed forward, but for all their attacking efforts, they were almost powerless to stop Leverkusen on the counter. A plethora of chances ensued for Die Werkself, with Diaby striking the post and Dibusz having to be on top form to deny Sardar Azmoun from close range.
Though not short of honest effort, the injury-hit home side were certainly short of viable replacements off the bench, and the tie was settled for good when Leverkusen substitute Amine Adli latched onto a Diaby through ball and placed his shot in off the inside of the post.
Thoroughly outclassed tonight, Ferencvaros won’t replicate their 1972 run to the inaugural semi-finals of this competition’s predecessor, the UEFA Cup, leaving them to concentrate on their quest for a fifth successive Hungarian league title.
Meanwhile, Leverkusen look well worth their status as one of the competition’s frontrunners, with just two more ties to overcome before a potentially glorious return to Budapest for May’s final.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen)
Check out the second-leg stats with Flashscore.
Royale Union SG 3 Union Berlin 0
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise secured progression to a first European quarter-final in 63 years as they beat 1. FC Union Berlin 3-0 on the night and 6-3 on aggregate in their Europa League last-16 tie.
Regardless of the result, both sides could be safe in the knowledge that they had given fantastic accounts of themselves in this competition - Saint-Gilloise won their group, which included Union, and went toe-to-toe with their Bundesliga opponents in the first leg, while the German outfit had beaten four-time European champions Ajax en route to this stage.
However, defeat for either would undoubtedly feel like a missed opportunity to reach the last eight for the first time ever.
The hosts made the better start and should have been ahead as early as the sixth minute. The Belgians stole possession inside their own half and strode forward, with Simon Adingra having what seemed like a simple opportunity to break the deadlock. His shot was valiantly blocked on the line by Diego Leite, though, and Victor Boniface somehow managed to strike the post from less than six yards with the rebound.
However, sloppy play from the visitors allowed their opponents to create another opening and, this time, Teddy Teuma showed the necessary composure to fire beyond Fredrik Ronnow.
For the rest of the first period, Les Unionistes sat back and allowed Die Eisernen to dictate the tempo, but besides two rasping Josip Juranovic strikes, they failed to pose any threat.
Needing to score, Union dominated possession but remained unable to find a way through, and their task was made even harder just under 20 minutes into the second period when Boniface, who had been a menace throughout, chipped a cross into the box for Lazare Amani to tap home on the volley.
Ultimately, it was a serene night for Saint-Gilloise’s side as, other than a Sheraldo Becker free-kick that curled narrowly wide, the side from the German capital never looked like halving the deficit, and salt was rubbed into the wounds when substitute Janik Haberer received his marching orders after picking up two yellow cards.
The final arrow to the away team’s heart came in stoppage time when Loic Lapoussin fired into the top corner to complete the scoring.
Saint-Gilloise can now look forward to Friday’s draw as they await their next opponent. Union, meanwhile, must regroup, and quickly - not only are they well in the race for a top-four spot, which would guarantee a maiden UEFA Champions League appearance, but they also have a DFB-Pokal quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt to come.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Victor Boniface (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise)
Real Sociedad 0 Roma 0
Roma have ensured their name is in the hat for tomorrow’s Europa League quarter-final draw thanks to a 2-0 aggregate victory over Real Sociedad.
With a two-goal cushion from the first leg last week, the onus was on Sociedad to take the game to Roma, but it was the visitors who came closest to finding an early breakthrough when Paulo Dybala’s goal-bound effort was deflected inches wide by Alexander Sorloth.
It took until the half-hour mark for Sociedad to manufacture any meaningful goalmouth action and when they did Rui Patrício was equal to both Brais Mendez and Mikel Merino’s stinging drives.
Sociedad were rather fortunate not to have made their task even more difficult for themselves when Diego Rico ploughed through Rick Karsdorp and was lucky to escape with just a yellow.
You did start to wonder whether lady luck was shining down on Sociedad as just moments later Roma had a goal disallowed, with Chris Smalling bundling the ball over the line with his arm from Dybala’s wicked delivery to hand the hosts yet another lifeline.
Those let-offs ensured Sociedad remained firmly in the tie and shortly after the break they were handed a golden chance to halve the aggregate arrears. If there was one man they would’ve wanted a free header from 12 yards to fall to, then Sorloth would undoubtedly have been that man, but his header flew harmlessly wide.
If that miss was bad then Mikel Oyarzabal’s 20 minutes from time was even worse, rattling the bar from all of three yards out when it was seemingly easier to score.
Despite the fact they had managed to get the ball into the net, the 80th minute arrived without Roma mustering a shot-on-target, somewhat symptomatic of a Jose Mourinho side away from home on a big European night.
It was immaterial though, with Roma doing the heavy lifting in the first leg as they progressed through a Europa League tie after winning the first leg for the fifth successive time.
As for Sociedad, their night was soured by the dismissal of Carlos Fernandez but their attention must now quickly switch back to their top-four push in La Liga, starting with the visit of Elche on Sunday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad)