Europa League: Lyon survives Viktoria Plzen scare, Valencia advances
Ligue 1 side Lyon went through the Europa League quarterfinal stage, despite going down 2-1 at Viktoria Plzen.
The Ligue 1 side went into the match with a commanding 4-1 first-leg advantage and took the lead in the Czech Republic through Bafetimbi Gomis on the stroke of half-time. The hosts fought back, Daniel Kolar levelling and Stanislav Tecl making it 2-1 before then missing a penalty, as Lyon went through 5-3 overall.
Valencia cruised into the quarterfinals of the Europa League as they saw off Ludogorets 1-0 to complete a straightforward 4-0 aggregate win.
A 3-0 first-leg victory away from home had all but settled this tie last week, but Paco Alcacer's header early in the second half made absolutely sure in a match largely devoid of drama.
Ludogorets started both halves of the match brightly, but after Diego Alves made a fine save to deny Roman Bezjak and then saw Mihail Aleksandrov blaze wide on the rebound in the 64th minute, their challenge was over.
AZ Alkmaar booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League after shutting out Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia on Thursday night.
The visitors defended their 1-0 lead from the home leg without any major scares and indeed went closest to scoring themselves when Nemanja Gudelj's first-half free-kick hit a post.
Anzhi, bottom of the Russian Premier League, finished the match with 10 men following the injury-time dismissal of Karlen Mkrtchyan.
Ten-man Basel came from 1-0 down to knock out Salzburg with a 2-1 win in Austria and victory on aggregate by the same margin.
The visitors suffered an early setback when Marek Suchy was sent off after only nine minutes and Jonathan Soriano put Salzburg ahead in the 22nd minute. The match was briefly suspended as Basel fans threw objects on to the pitch, but their team staged a second-half fightback.
Marco Streller made it 1-1 six minutes after the break and Gaston Sauro added another nine minutes later. Salzburg ended the match a man light too, Alan being red-carded in the 86th minute.
Sevilla made history as they recovered from a 2-0 first-leg deficit to knock arch-rivals Real Betis out of the Europa League last 16 following a penalty shoot-out.
No Sevilla side had ever won a European tie after losing the first leg at home, but Unai Emery's men levelled the scores up on aggregate thanks to goals in either half from Jose Antonio Reyes and Carlos Bacca at the Benito Villamarin. That sent the game to extra-time and then penalties, where Sevilla won 4-3 despite seeing their first penalty from Vitolo saved by Antonio Adan.
