UEFA Conference League R16 First Leg Wrap: Leicester, Marseille and Roma secure vital wins
Leicester, Marseille and Roma secured UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 leads, while PSV and Copenhagen shared eight goals between them.
Feyenoord and Slavia Praha landed decisive-looking first-leg blows, but there is plenty of life left in the remaining UEFA Europa Conference League ties.
Leicester won 2-0, and Marseille, Roma, Bodø/Glimt and PAOK are all set to take one-goal leads into the return fixtures on Thursday 17 March, while it is all square between PSV Eindhoven and Copenhagen following a rollercoaster first leg.
Vitesse 0-1 Roma
Roma took a slender advantage thanks to Sérgio Oliveira’s instinctive finish. The 29-year-old hooked in a loose ball with seconds remaining of a first period that the hosts had dominated, Luis Openda spurning their best chance. José Mourinho’s men saw out the second half despite their goalscorer’s late dismissal for a second bookable offence
Key stat: Roma have won their last three matches in all competitions, all by the same 1-0 scoreline.
Leicester 2-0 Rennes
Kelechi Iheanacho’s late finish put Leicester City in control of their tie ahead of the second leg in France. Rennes were on top early on but Marc Albrighton arrived in style to thump in Harvey Barnes’ excellent cutback. Both sides had chances in a lively second half but Iheanacho came off the bench to steer in a lovely low finish to put the Foxes on top.
Key stat: Rennes have lost all four of their matches in England without scoring.
Marseille 2-1 Basel
Arkadiusz Milik’s 20th-minute Panenka penalty threatened to open the floodgates for the French side, who had already hit the woodwork via Cengiz Ünder. However, the Polish forward’s close-range finish soon after the hour mark was all they had to show for their efforts, the visitors giving themselves hope for the return leg when Sebastiano Esposito drilled home.
Key stat: Marseille have won four UEFA competition matches in a row for the first time since 2010.
Bodø/Glimt 2-1 AZ Alkmaar
Ola Solbakken joined Roma’s Tammy Abraham at the top of the UEFA Europa Conference League scorers ranking after converting a late penalty to give the Norwegian champions a lead to take to the Netherlands next week. Amahl Pellegrino had given the hosts a first-half lead, but Zakaria Aboukhlal levelled for AZ from Koshi Sugawara’s cross on 73 minutes.
Key stat: AZ have won both of their previous ties against Norwegian clubs.
PSV Eindhoven 4-4 Copenhagen
Ísak Bergmann Johannesson’s early goal was cancelled out by Cody Gakpo but withing two minutes Pep Biel curled into the bottom to restore Copenhagen’s lead. Lukas Lerager made it 3-1 before the break but Ritsu Doan and Gakpo pulled it back to 3-3. Gakpo then had a tame penalty saved before Biel was gifted a second, but Eran Zahavi glanced a late equaliser.
Key stat: PSV had won their three previous UEFA home games against Danish sides by an aggregate score of 17-1.
Partizan 2-5 Feyenoord
Jens Toornstra cancelled out Bibras Natcho’s opener for Partizan, but substitute Nemanja Jović restored their lead within 40 seconds of the restart. However, Cyriel Dessers’ volleyed an equaliser and Lutsharel Geertruida put the visitors ahead before Luis Sinisterra’s sublime volley made it 4-2, Toornstra adding a fifth soon afterwards.
Key stat: Feyenoord’s victory was their first in Serbia after UEFA Cup defeats in Belgrade in 1972 and 1981.
Slavia Praha 4-1 LASK
Yira Sor caught LASK cold with a third-minute shot, then atoned for missing two gilt-edged chances by racing through to round the goalkeeper and hit a second. Slavia twice hit the crossbar in the second half before Husein Balić’s finish gave LASK hope, but captain Peter Olayinka and Ibrahim Traoré struck late for the hosts.
Key stat: The 16-year-old Adam Pudil made his Slavia debut in the first half; his twin brother Miloš replaced him at half-time.
PAOK 1-0 Gent
Gent’s Alessio Castro-Montes had a goal ruled out for offside, having followed up to fire home after Alexandros Paschalakis had spilled a shot. PAOK broke the deadlock just before the hour-mark when Jasmin Kurtić’s free-kick deflected in off Sven Kums. However, bookings mean Kurtić and Andrija Živković will miss the return leg.
Key stat: Having never won a home springtime European fixture until the last round, PAOK have now won two in a row.
