Villarreal 2 – 1 Sparta Prague.
The host dominated the encounter throughout and if not the fact that they were wasteful, they should have inflicted more goals on Sparta, but they will be happy with the home win. Cedric Bakambu scored twice for Villarreal as they beat Sparta Prageu at home in the Europa league on Thursday. Parta goalkeeper (David Bicik) gifted the first goal to Villarreal in the third minutes when he hit a clearance off Bakambu into his net.
Sparta Ladislav Krejci had a goal correctly ruled out as Bicik made a lot of saves, before Jacub Brabec nodded in a first half injury time vital away goal for Sparta. Bakambu restored Villareal’s lead after the half-time when he took the advantage of the space created by Denis Suarez. Sparta goalkeeper made more saves in the second half to limit the number of Villarreal goals. Bicik denied Bakambu a hat-trick when he reacted quickly to save the shot from the striker. Sparta now faces a huge task to go through when they host Villarreal next week.
Borussia Dortmund 1 – 1 Liverpool
Liverpool enjoyed an away goal advantage after drawing at Dortmund in Germany. The Liverpool boss who happened to be the former Dortmund coach got a warm welcome from the home fans. Divock Origi gave Liverpool the lead after Jurgen Klopp showed faith in him ahead of Dani Sturrige, but Mats Hummels equalizer means the two sides still have something to fight for.
Borussia Dortmund will have to tighten their belt when they visit England next week Thursday because the tie is in the favour of Liverpool who will be hoping to seal the semi final ticket at home.
Athletic Club 1 – 2 Sevilla
The Europa reigning champions win at Athletic will give them believe of qualifying for the semi finals after winning the Europa encounter against the host in the first leg on Thursday. Sevilla got a late second half winner through Vicente Iborra goal when he converted Kevin Gameiro’s pass to give Sevilla their first away win in this season’s Europa league.
Athletic Club scored the first goal of the game after Aritz Aduriz scored just after the break, but the Iker Muniain’s poor defensive header allowed Sevilla back into the game when Timothee Kolodziejczak equalized. Ibora then gave Sevilla the winner just some minutes to the end of the game. Athletic Club will be hoping to turn things around when they visit Sevilla next week Thursday.
Sporting Braga 1 – 2 Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar Donetsk is now the favourite to reach the last four of the Europa league after a great performance in Portugal against their host. Even though the host dominated the opening stage of the encounter, they were pegged back by Yaroslav Rakitskiy’s smart finish some minutes before the break. Braga pushed for the equalizer in the second half of the game, but was further punished by another goal from a superb Facundo Ferreyra chip.
Shakhtar almost scored the third goal, but saw their two goals lead reduced when Wilson Eduardo scored to give his side something to build on when they visit Donetsk next week. Sporting Braga now faces a huge task to go through to the semi finals.
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