Sevilla sees off Villarreal, win for Everton
Print Edition
DEFENDING champion Sevilla, with a record-breaking 13-second goal, Everton, and Wolfsburg were all on top after Thursday’s Europa League last 16 first round ties.
Sevilla ran off with its all-Spanish clash at Villarreal 3-1, Victor Machin ‘Vitolo creating competition history with his grease-lightning opener.
At Everton’s Goodison Park, Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku gave his Premier League club a slender advantage against Dynamo Kiev, his late penalty securing a 2-1 win. Roberto Martinez’s team fell behind in the 14th minute to an Oleg Gusev strike, but they equalized six minutes before half time when Lukaku’s power and poise helped him lay on a goal for Scottish forward Steven Naismith.
The Toffees pushed hard for a second half winner and finally broke down the Dynamo defence in the 82nd minute. Referee Carlos Velasco Carballo awarded a spot-kick for handball by Danilo Silva and Lukaku converted, making him Everton’s all-time record European scorer with seven goals.
“We learned that when we have got that tempo in our play and when we use the character we have we are a very strong team,” Martinez said. “Overall it was a very good performance and the reaction shows we are a very good team. We are not favorites as the home team always has a little advantage.”
In Naples, Gonzalo Higuain’s hat-trick inspired Rafael Benitez’s Napoli to a 3-1 win over Dinamo Moscow.
“It was a difficult game, especially after their goal. Thankfully we won and we’ll head to Russia with a fairly good advantage. We’ll suffer in the second leg, but Napoli can qualify,” Higuain said.
The all-Serie A affair between Fiorentina and Roma ended 1-1.
Two other Italian clubs suffered travel sickness, three-time champion Inter Milan coming away from its visit to Vfl Wolfsburg 1-3 losers, and Torino going down 0-2 at Zenit St Petersburg.
Kevin de Bruyne lifted Wolfsburg past Inter despite Roberto Mancini’s men looking to have the upper hand over their high-flying Bundesliga hosts when Rodrigo Palacio put the Serie A visitors into a sixth minute lead.
But de Bruyne set up Naldo for the German side’s first-half equalizer, then with a little help from Inter’s stand-in goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo he scored a second-half double.
Andre Villas-Boas’ Zenit St Petersburg also has an option on the next round after Axel Witsel and former Italian defender Domenco Criscito saw off Torino which was reduced to 10 men after Marco Benassi’s first-half red card.
Dutch champion Ajax go into its second leg against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk trailing 0-1 after the Ukrainians took the first-leg honors thanks to a first-half goal from Roman Zozulya in Kiev.
In Belgium, Club Brugge edged Besiktas of Turkey 2-1.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
