The first matches of the quarter-final stage of the playoffs took place in the Europa League on Thursday.
As reported UEFA, the most unexpected result of the evening was recorded in England. There, one of the main contenders for the trophy, “Liverpool”, gave a crushing defeat to Ruslan Malinovsky’s former club, “Atalanta”. Skamakka scored a double, and Pashalich scored another goal. 0:3 – the English team is very close to being relegated from the European Cup.
Anatoly Trubin’s “Benfica” instead made a step to the semi-finals. The “Eagles” with the Ukrainian goalkeeper in the team beat the offender of “Shakhtar” – “Marseille”. Trubin was unable to keep a clean sheet, but Rafa Silva and Di Maria secured the advantage for the Lisbon side. 2:1 – victory of “Benfica”.
Bayer Leverkusen continued its phenomenal unbeaten streak this season. The Germans confirmed their status as favorites of the Europa League and comfortably beat West Ham at home 2:0. Hoffman and Boniface scored at the end of the match.
The Italian derby between “Milan” and “Roma” ended in favor of the Romans – Mancini’s only goal provided the “wolves” with a minimal victory on the road.
