Europa League round-up
Juventus sent up an enticing last-16 meeting with Serie A rivals Fiorentina.
Antonio Conte’s men won 2-0 in Turkey at Trabzonspor thanks to first-half goals from Arturo Vidal and Dani Osvaldo to seal a 4-0 aggregate victory.
La Viola also held a healthy lead from the first leg against Esbjerg, 3-1, and completed the job with a 1-1 home-leg draw.
Josip Ilicic scored a free-kick early in the second half and Mikkel Vestergaard’s well-taken stoppage-time goal was mere consolation.
Nicolas Gaitan scored a stunning free-kick as Benfica cruised into the next round with a 3-0 victory at home to PAOK Salonika.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, the Greeks were up against it after Konstantinos Katsouranis’s red card in the 69th minute.
Gaitan put Benfica ahead on the night 60 seconds later, Rodrigo Lima adding a second from the spot in the 79th minute and Lazar Markovic adding another a minute after.
Lazio were beaten 4-3 on aggregate by Ludogorets Razgrad after they threw away a two-goal lead and conceded an 89th-minute equaliser in a 3-3 draw in Bulgaria.
The Romans looked to have turned around their home-leg deficit when goals from Keita Balde, who scored inside the opening 18 seconds, and Brayan Perea after 54 minutes put them 2-0 up on the night.
Roman Bezjak and Hristo Zlatinski brought it back to 2-2, only for Miroslav Klose to put Lazio back in front after 83 minutes.
But 85th-minute substitute Juninho Quixada struck four minutes after coming on to put Ludogorets through.
Sevilla and Real Betis set up a mouthwatering derby in the last 16 of the Europa League with victories on Thursday night.
Sevilla won 2-1 at home to Maribor of Slovenia, goals from Jose Antonio Reyes (42) and Kevin Gameiro (59) helping them complete a 4-3 aggregate win.
Dare Vrsic pulled one back in stoppage time for the visitors, but it did not affect the tie. Betis claimed an impressive 2-0 win at Rubin Kazan to go through 3-1 on aggregate.
Nono put the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time and Ruben Castro grabbed a second shortly after the hour mark.
Napoli and Porto both survived scares to progress.
The Italians, following a goalless first leg, won 3-1 at home to Swansea, but the game was tougher than the scoreline suggested.
The Swans were heading through on away goals until the 78th minute when Gonzalo Higuain put Napoli 2-1 up, Gokhan Inler adding a third in injury time.
Jonathan de Guzman (30) had earlier levelled for Swansea, cancelling out Lorenzo Insigne’s opener.
Next up for Napoli are Porto, who came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to draw 3-3 at Eintracht Frankfurt and advance on away goals after the tie ended 5-5 on aggregate.
The Germans led 2-0 following a goal either side of half-time from Stefan Aigner and Alexander Meier, but the visitors responded through an Eliaquim Mangala brace.
Meier struck again to put Eintracht back in pole position to progress, but substitute Nabil Ghilas’ 86th-minute goal turned the tie back in the Portuguese side’s favour.
Tottenham set up a clash with Benfica after coming from 2-0 down on aggregate to go through 3-2 following a 3-1 win at White Hart Lane on Thursday.
Spurs looked on their way out when Roman Zozulya doubled the Ukrainians’ aggregate lead just after the break.
But Christian Eriksen’s free-kick got the hosts back in the contest before Zozulya’s 62nd-minute red card for a headbutt on Jan Vertonghen changed the match.
Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice in five minutes to give Tim Sherwood’s side the three they needed.
Valencia booked a tie with Ludogorets, a 0-0 draw at home to Dynamo Kiev sending them through 2-0 on aggregate.
—Daily Mail