Sports
Europa: Man United held to draw in Russia; Lyon, Celta Vigo win
English Premier League side Manchester United were held to a 1-1draw by Russian side FC Rostov in their first leg, round of 16 UEFA Europa League fixture on Thursday night.
On a challenging pitch at the Olymp-2 Stadium – which was criticised by United manager Jose Mourinho before the match - United grabbed an away goal ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford next week.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened the scoring with a left-footed finish, rounding off a nice build-up in the 35th minute after Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the ball across the penalty area; but resilient Rostov equalised about nine minutes after the break through Aleksandr Bukharov as Timofey Kalachev provided the assist.
In France, Lique 1 giants, Olympique Lyon came from 2-1 down to beat Italian Roma 4-2, as Lyon scored three second-half goals through Corentin Tolisso, Nabil Fekir and Lacazette ahead of next Thursday’s second leg in Rome.
Elsewhere, substitute Claudio Beauvue headed a 90th minute winner for Celta Vigo, who beat Krasnodar 2-1 ahead of the second leg in Russia.
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Gent, who beat Tottenham in the last round, lost 5-2 at home to Belgium rivals Genk, as a mistake from Olympiakos keeper cost his side to secure a 1-1 draw against Besiktas.
Here’s the full results of the 1st leg of the Europa League round of 16:
Apoel Nic 0-1 Anderlecht
FC Copenhagen 2-1 Ajax
FC Rostov 1-1 Man Utd
Celta Vigo 2-1 FK Krasnodar
Schalke 1-1 B Gladbach
KAA Gent 2-5 KRC Genk
Lyon 4-2 Roma
Olympiakos 1-1 Besiktas
The return leg of the ties comes up next Thursday, as winners by aggregate will advance to the quarter-finals of the competition.
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