Europa League Round-up: Man United edge past AC Milan while Rangers and Spurs suffer surprise exits
Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his return from injury to feature for the last half-hour against his former club and he forced a fine save from Dean Henderson as Milan looked to force extra time. Credit: Michael P Ryan (ETPhotos)
Manchester United edged out a thrilling encounter at the San Siro to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League but Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers suffered shock defeats.
Paul Pogba’s goal early in the second half saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side see off AC Milan 1-0 on the night, and 2-1 on aggregate.
Milan came into the tie with a slender advantage after Simon Kjaer’s late header earned the Milanese a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford after Amad Diallo’s debut strike for United.
Both sides had chances during a lively opening encounter but the introduction of Pogba, on his return from injury, at half time yielded results within two minutes.
The French World Cup winner showed a cool head amid a hectic goalmouth scramble to chip the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Pogba does so well with the finish here.#ACMMUN#UEL#VMSportpic.twitter.com/2zUCPhoJsk
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 18, 2021
Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his return from injury to feature for the last half-hour against his former club and he forced a fine save from Dean Henderson as Milan looked to force extra time.
Spurs came into their second-leg tie with Dinamo Zagreb with a healthy 2-0 lead but a stunning hat-trick from Mislav Orsic guided the Croatian side to a well-deserved win after extra time.
An outstanding strike from the Croatian international left Hugo Lloris with no chance before he netted the equaliser eight minutes from time.
The replays of Mislav Orši?'s goal.
Hugo Lloris with no chance.#DINTOT#UEL#VMSportpic.twitter.com/ShsNuLH4pb
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 18, 2021
Another fabulous solo effort brough up the hat-trick for Orsic and the home side rode out three minutes of extra time to seal the win.
Rangers finished their home leg with Slavia Praha with nine men after Kemar Roofe and Leon Balogun were sent off in the second half at Ibrox.
Kemar Roofe sent off for his challenge on Ondrej Kolar.
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 18, 2021
The Slavia Prague keeper suffered a nasty gash to the head and had to be taken off.#RANSLA#UEL#VMSportpic.twitter.com/tOrP2aMflu
Elsewhere, Dundalk’s group opponents Arsenal and Molde had differing fortunes with the former seeing off Olympiacos despite a 1-0 home defeat.
Norwegian side Molde bowed out in spite of a 2-1 win at home to Spanish side Granada, a Jésus Vallejo own goal and a penalty from Eirik Hestad not enough to overcome a 2-0 first-leg deficit.
A 2-0 win for in Bern earned Ajax a 5-0 aggregate win over Young Boys, while Villarreal completed back-to-back 2-0 wins over Dynamo Kyiv.
And a second-half double for Borja Mayoral, after Junior Moraes had put Shakhtar Donetsk in front on the night, saw Roma to an easy 5-1 aggregate win.
