Europa League: Faltering Chelsea, Arsenal, Napoli For Round 16

Respite came for faltering English Premiership sides, Chelsea and Arsenal as they celebrated their qualifications for the last 16 round of 2018/19 Europa League on Thursday night.

Embattled Coach Maurizio Sarri’s troubled Chelsea side relieved some of the pressure on him with a 3-0 bashing of mediocre Swedish club, FC Malmo at Stamford Bridge.

At the Emirate, the Gunners also went through with a comfortable 3-0 winners over visiting BATE Borisov of Belarus on the night.

Chelsea, already 2-1 ahead from the first-leg clash in Sweden, waited until 10 minutes after the break to kick-start their celebrations with Olivier Giroud tapping in the decisive goal of a boring encounter.

Ross Barkley made sure of victory with a super free-kick in the 74th minute, just after Malmo’s Rasmus Bengtsson was sent off for his second bookable offence. Interestingly, 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi made the most of a rare start by crashing home the third.

The highly-rated Hudson Odoi, who was a Bayern Munich target in January, said after the match that; “The boys really played well today. We worked hard throughout the game. The goal that came at the end was definitely a bonus for the way that we played.”

For Arsenal, who fell 1-0 in Belarus, matters were level on aggregate after just three minutes as Zakhar Volkov sliced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s low cross past his goalkeeper Denis Scherbitski for an own goal.

Deservedly, the Unai Emery’s men were again rewarded with two thumping headers from Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis either side of the break which put them into today’s (Friday) draw.

“We wanted this result but also we wanted to play for our supporters here. We did our best to come back (in the tie) and the team worked very well,” Emery said.

Similarly, Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli breezed to a 2-0 win over FC Zurich that saw them win 5-1 on aggregate, while Inter Milan went through 5-0 after humbling Rapid Vienna without reply at the San Siro.

Rennes make history

French side Rennes are into the last 16 of a major European tournament for the first time after winning possibly the most entertaining tie of the round 6-4 on aggregate following a barnstorming 3-1 win at Real Betis.

Goals from Ramy Bensebaini and Adrien Hunou fired Rennes into a two-goal lead within the opening half-hour but the tie was put back in the balance when Giovani Lo Celso pulled one back four minutes before half-time.

With Betis pushing to equalise and go through on away goals, M’Baye Niang finished off an injury time break to see the mid-table Ligue 1 side through.

RB Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb and Zenit Saint Petersburg all overturned first-leg deficits, with Austrians Salzburg hammering Club Brugge 4-0 to go through 5-2 and Croatian champions Dinamo 4-2 winners on aggregate after a storming 3-0 victory over Viktoria Plzen.

In another match of the night, Zenit St. Petersburg overcame Fenerbahce of Turkey 3-1 in Russia. Magomed Ozdoev and Sardar Azmoun gave the hosts an aggregate lead before Mehmet Topal put the Turks ahead on away goals just before the break.

However, on his home debut for Zenit, Iranian international Azmoun struck again 14 minutes from the end to see Sergei Semak’s side through.

Pablo Fornals snuck Villarreal past Sporting Lisbon with a fine curling strike that gave the La Liga side a 1-1 draw on the night and a 2-1 win overall, while Benfica eased past Galatasaray 2-1 after a goalless draw in Portugal.

Krasnodar shocked Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen with a 1-1 draw that saw them through on away goals.

Eintracht Frankfurt saved Germany’s blushes by sweeping past Shakhtar Donetsk with a pulsating 4-1 win that gave them side a 6-3 aggregate victory.

Scotland’s participation in Europe ended after 10-man Celtic fell 1-0 at Valencia, already 2-0 up from the first leg in Glasgow and winners in Spain thanks to Kevin Gameiro’s 70th-minute strike. – With agency reports