DFC Barcelona, record winners FC Sevilla and Atalanta Bergamo have reached the round of 16 in the Europa League. FC Porto and Betis Sevilla also survived the intermediate round on Thursday evening. Barca won the difficult second leg at Italian top club SSC Napoli 4: 2 (3: 1) and after the 1: 1 in the first leg is in the round of the last 16 of the second highest European Cup – for the first time since 2004.
At that time the competition was still called the UEFA Cup. Since then, Barcelona have been regulars in the Champions League, but were eliminated in the group stage for the first time this season. In Naples, the team led by national goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen surprisingly won clearly.
FC Sevilla were able to afford a 0-1 (0-0) draw at Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb in the second leg on Thursday. The Spaniards won the first leg 3-1. After winning the first leg (2-1), Bergamo celebrated an easy 3-0 (1-0) against Greek title holders Olympiakos Piraeus.
Things were tight for Porto: The Portuguese drew 2-2 (1-1) at Lazio Roma, having won the first leg 2-1. Betis Sevilla drew 0-0 against Zenit St. Petersburg after winning 3-2 away in the first leg.
Thursday night’s games were accompanied by protests against Russia’s attack on Ukraine. In Naples, players from both teams displayed a banner with the words “Stop War”. Bergamo’s Ukraine doubles goalscorer Ruslan Malinovskyi wore a t-shirt with the words “No War in Ukraine” underneath the shirt.
