The UEFA Europa League’s last two English contenders crashed out of the competition on Thursday night. Manchester United suffered back-to-back defeats to the flying Bilbao in the Round of 16. In the first leg of their tie, the Red Devils lost 3-2 in controversial circumstances. They needed a 2-0 margin victory away to Athletic Bilbao but they suffered defeat again.
At Eastlands, Manchester City secured a 3-2 win over Sporting Lisbon. However, the Portuguese knocked out the Citizens thanks to their 1-0 first leg advantage. City and United can therefore concentrate on their domestic battles and leave the UEFA Europa League to other European teams.
UEFA Europa League – Round of 16 fixtures and results:
There were a hosts of matches played on Thursday night. In the peak of the events were the following:
Manchester City 3-2 Sporting Lisbon (Sporting qualified 3-3 on aggregate with the away goals rule
PSV Eindhoven 1-1 Valencia (Valencia qualified 5-3 on aggregate)
Besiktas 0-3 Atletico Madrid (Atletico Madrid qualified 6-1 on aggregate)
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Manchester United (Athletic Bilbao qualified 5-3 on aggregate)
For more on this, visit our UEFA Europa League page.
UEFA Europa League – quarter-final contenders in alphabetical order:
Athletic Bilbao (Spain); Atletico Madrid (Spain); AZ (Netherlands); Hannover 96 (Germany); Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine); Sporting Lisbon (Portugal); Valencia (Spain)
Spain dominate in the UEFA Europa League through their three contenders, namely Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Valencia. Portugal, Germany, Ukraine and the Netherlands have only one team each.
The first legs of the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League quarter-final fixtures will be staged on March 29, 2012. The second legs will take place on April 5, 2012.
