Arsenal suffered a shock 0-1 defeat at BATE Borisov, while Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli all won away in Europa League last 32 first leg ties on Thursday.
Olivier Giroud and Ross Barkley (R)
London:
BATE took the lead when Stanislav Dragun nodded a free-kick past Arsenal goalkeeper Peter Cech seconds before half-time. Lacazette had earlier put a header wide midway through the first half. The Frenchman thought he had made up for his miss 10 minutes after the break, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
To compound his misery, Lacazette was shown a red card five minutes from time for felling Aleksandar Filipovic with an elbow after the defender held him back. Arsenal’s London neighbour Chelsea did much better in similar temperatures, overcoming Malmo 2-1 in Sweden.
Ross Barkley gave it the lead when he stabbed home from close range on the half hour mark. Olivier Giroud then got his fifth goal in four Europa League matches with a slick back heel 14 minutes into the second half. Malmo’s Anders Christiansen scored a lovely goal on the break to make it 1-2, but the Swedes could not level the tie.
Italian clubs also enjoyed success, with Napoli beating Zurich 3-1 in Switzerland. Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez netted a 39th minute penalty for a 1-0 win at Rapid Vienna. In Glasgow, Denis Cheryshev gave Valencia the lead against Celtic three minutes before half-time when he finished off a fine counter-attack by Ruben Sobrino. The roles were reversed in the second half as Sobrino tapped home after Cheryshev did the hard work on the break.
Alfonso Pedraza’s goal after three minutes was enough to give Villarreal a 1-0 win over Sporting. Sevilla beat Lazio by the same scoreline in Rome, thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder’s close range strike in the 22nd minute. Real Betis was 0-2 down after 10 minutes, but made a stunning comeback to come up trumps 3-2.
Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette had a night to forget as he was sent off late on. Spanish sides Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal also tasted victory on the road. Arsenal had scored 10 goals in two matches against BATE Borisov in the same competition in 2017, but never looked like being as prolific in the freezing temperatures of Belarus.
BATE took the lead when Stanislav Dragun nodded a free-kick past Arsenal goalkeeper Peter Cech seconds before half-time. Lacazette had earlier put a header wide midway through the first half. The Frenchman thought he had made up for his miss 10 minutes after the break, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
To compound his misery, Lacazette was shown a red card five minutes from time for felling Aleksandar Filipovic with an elbow after the defender held him back. Arsenal’s London neighbour Chelsea did much better in similar temperatures, overcoming Malmo 2-1 in Sweden.
Ross Barkley gave it the lead when he stabbed home from close range on the half hour mark. Olivier Giroud then got his fifth goal in four Europa League matches with a slick back heel 14 minutes into the second half. Malmo’s Anders Christiansen scored a lovely goal on the break to make it 1-2, but the Swedes could not level the tie.
Italian clubs also enjoyed success, with Napoli beating Zurich 3-1 in Switzerland. Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez netted a 39th minute penalty for a 1-0 win at Rapid Vienna. In Glasgow, Denis Cheryshev gave Valencia the lead against Celtic three minutes before half-time when he finished off a fine counter-attack by Ruben Sobrino. The roles were reversed in the second half as Sobrino tapped home after Cheryshev did the hard work on the break.
Alfonso Pedraza’s goal after three minutes was enough to give Villarreal a 1-0 win over Sporting. Sevilla beat Lazio by the same scoreline in Rome, thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder’s close range strike in the 22nd minute. Real Betis was 0-2 down after 10 minutes, but made a stunning comeback to come up trumps 3-2.