It was a fabulous night for Manchester as both United and City recorded impressive road wins to open the Europa League’s round of 32. United downed Ajax 2-0 in Amsterdam behind goals from Ashley Young and Chicharito, and City pulled off a smash-and-grab at the Estadio do Dragao to win 2-1 over Porto. An own goal and a late winner from Sergio “Kun” Aguero left the defending champions in a hole ahead of next week's second leg at the Eastlands.
Elsewhere, Stoke fell at the Britannia to Valencia 1-0 thanks to Mehmet Topal’s superb first half goal, Red Bull Salzburg were humiliated at home 4-0 by Metalist, and Atletico Madrid will take home a commanding 3-1 lead over Lazio on a busy night that saw 14 games across the continent. The round of 32 concludes with next Wednesday and Thursday’s return legs.
Manchester City can breathe a sigh of relief after they pulled out a late win against a tough Porto side thanks to Yaya Toure and Kun Aguero. Hulk had given Porto the lead against the run of play when his low cross found Silvestre Varela nicking in against Joe Hart. Hulk lived up to his name much of the night, proving to be a monster-sized pain to City’s midfield and drawing an impressive save out of Hart on a stinging free kick.
But City’s quality, sparked as usual by David Silva, ultimately won out. In fact, had it not been for an impressive showing from Porto's keeper Helton, the scoreline would have been far different. Helton stopped two sure goals, one a header near post from Micah Richards, and the other a long run from Mario Balotelli before being beaten by his own man.
Alvaro Pereira, booked moments earlier for a foul on Balotelli, was stranded by a long ball from Toure that caught him with his back to goal. His headed attempt to put it over the bar instead beat Helton, and after that, Porto seemed to lose their edge up top. Aguero would win the game late when Toure was sprung on a one-two from Samir Nasri. His run drew Helton out, leaving the Argentine with an uncontested tap in at the far post.
United will have more mixed feelings about their win in the Netherlands tonight. They ultimately dominated proceedings against a talented but inexperienced Ajax side, but sub Antonio Valencia, playing just ten minutes and helping to set up Chicharito’s insurance goal, suffered what Sir Alex Ferguson described as a “bad” hamstring strain and will miss at least a month.
Ferguson admitted his team’s performance was less than spectacular after watching a first half that saw Ajax threaten often. United lacked fluency in midfield and were impotent up top, with Nani having a particularly poor outing. Dico Koppers was particularly effective in the back for Ajax, and youngsters Siem de Jong and Miralem Suljemani displayed enough flair to demonstrate why they are so coveted by major European sides. It wasn’t until after the break — and sustained spell of pressure orchestrated by Wayne Rooney — that United gained their purchase in the match.
It must be said that neither Manchester side looked particularly impressive. Both got their tactics right and ground out wins, but it is hard this week not to get the sense that English football may be ebbing on the European front. With Arsenal’s humiliation Wednesday at the hands of AC Milan, Stoke’s loss to Valencia and a tricky Champions League test for Chelsea in Napoli next week, City and United might well be the only Premier League teams left in European action come mid-March — and they are playing for a second-tier trophy at that. Football is cyclical, of course, and we may well be seeing one of those period shifts in power.
In other action tonight, Ukraine's Metalist put on a clinic against Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, with Brazilian striker Taison leading the charge. He scored after only 20 seconds after being gifted with the ball in midfield, and that confidence carried the rest of the game. Taison would set up Jonathan Cristaldo for one of his two goals and Marko Devic added insult in stoppage to complete the rout.
Atletico were similarly impressive at Lazio, taking the Italians apart behind Falcao. Miroslav Klose had given the Italians an early lead after `keeper Thibaut Courtois couldn’t hold a shot from Antonio Candreva, but Adrian Lopez pulled the Spaniards back only six minutes later with a superb volley off Falcao’s header. Falcao would then score in each half to seal the win and most likely end Lazio’s European campaign.
Steve Cherundolo picked up a card for Hannover and was removed with 15 to go, but he won’t mind after his side came back late to down Belgians Club Brugge 2-1. Arthur Sobiech’s 73rd minute goal began the fight back after Brugge had nicked the lead behind Maxime Lestienne’s 51st minute header. Sobiech would win the crucial penalty attempt after Ryan Donk took him down with 10 left on the clock. Jan Schlaudraff’s risky and cheeky attempt saw him chip `keeper Vladan Kujovic. To say he was unhappy is an understatement.
Jozy Altidore came off the bench late as his AZ Alkmaar got a 1-0 home win over Sacha Kljestan’s Anderlecht thanks to a fine goal from 18-year-old Adam Maher. The result ended the Belgian side’s perfect run in the tournament. Jermaine Jones’ Schalke got a big 1-1 draw with Viktoria Plzen thanks to Klaus-Jan Huntelaar’s effort with 15 to play. Schalke had not impressed on the night but now hold an away goal ahead of next week’s match at the Veltins in Gelsenkirchen.
Oguchi Onyewu’s Sporting recovered late behind Andre Santos to take two away goals back to Lisbon after a draw at Legia Warsaw. The aptly named Janusz Gol had seemed to seal the deal for the Poles with 10 to play, but Santos' blast to the top left corner with only a minute left gives the Portuguese the edge next week at home.
In other games, ten-man Wisla Krakow recovered late to draw with Standard Liege 1-1 thanks to a last-gasp goal from Tvestan Genkov. Wisla had been forced to play short for over an hour after Michal Czekaj was ejected after he took out Yoni Buyens, allowing Gohi Bi Cyriac to score from the spot.
Lokomotiv Moscow won 2-1 over Athletic Bilbao thanks to two in the snow from Felipe Caicedo while Udinese was held scoreless at home in a grim 0-0 draw with PAOK. PSV coasted to a 2-1 win in Turkey over Trabzonspor after Tim Matavz scored in just the 6th minute and Ola Toivonen added the winner five minutes later. Olcan Adin pulled one back for the Turks but they could never really make a game of it. And 19-year-old Ola John gave Twente a valuable away goal and a 1-0 win over Steaua in Bucharest.
Two games were played on Tuesday, with Besiktas easily dispatching Braga on the road 2-0 and Olympiakos getting a grim 1-0 win in Moscow over Rubin Kazan. That match was held in Moscow instead of Kazan for capacity reasons.
