Man United thump Sociedad, lucklustre Arsenal held by Benfica

 

Bruno Fernandes scored twice as Manchester United romped to a 4-0 victory over Real Sociedad in their Europa League last-32 first leg on Thursday, while Gareth Bale impressed for Tottenham in a 4-1 thrashing of Austrian side Wolfsberg.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United are all but into the last 16, with four 'away' goals to take into the return game in a week's time, after the first leg was played in Turin due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

"We know 4-0 is a good result but we have to be aware of what they can do," Fernandes told BT Sport. "My target is to score the most goals I can, that is my position. The only target is to win trophies."

The Premier League outfit grabbed the lead in the 27th minute when Fernandes pounced on a defensive mix-up to slot in from Marcus Rashford's clipped pass.

Solskjaer's men doubled their advantage 12 minutes into the second period as Fernandes stroked home his 21st goal of the season in all competitions after Daniel James had miscontrolled Rashford's ball.

The effort was initially ruled out for offside before the linesman's decision was overruled by VAR.

United continued to play at a pace Sociedad could not deal with and Rashford finally got his goal in the 65th minute following a blistering counter-attack started by goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

The tie was surely put to bed in the final minute of normal time as James raced clear and fired into the bottom corner.

Bale strikes

Bale's agent Jonathan Barnett had said on Wednesday the Wales winger was "towards the end of his career", after Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho had questioned the player's Instagram post suggesting he was in good health despite being unavailable for Spurs' FA Cup defeat at Everton last week.

But Bale notched his first Tottenham assist since April 2013 to tee up Son Heung-min for the opening goal in Budapest against Wolfsberg, before drilling in the second before the half-hour mark.

A wonderful individual strike from Lucas Moura extended Spurs' first-half lead, and although Michael Liendl pulled one back for the Austrians with a second-half penalty, the English club have one foot in the next round after Carlos Vinicius' 88th-minute goal.

"I have a really close relationship with him (Bale)," said Son. "I'm very happy he's getting game time and scored a goal and got an assist. I really enjoy playing with him."

Mourinho has never lost a knockout tie in the competition, which he won with Porto in 2003 and Man United in 2017.

AC Milan, who have not reached the quarter-finals of any European competition since the 2011-12 Champions League, had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Red Star Belgrade.

Milan, who face Inter in a top-of-the-table Serie A derby on Sunday, were pegged back as Milan Pavkov netted a dramatic 93rd-minute leveller for Red Star, who played the closing stages with 10 men.

Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka continued his excellent season as his sixth goal of the campaign cancelled out Pizzi's penalty in a 1-1 draw against Benfica at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Arsenal's English midfielder Bukayo Saka (centre) celebrates with Arsenal's Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after scoring a goal during their Uefa Europa League round of 32 first leg match against SL Benfica at the Olimpico stadium in Rome on February 18, 2021.

Alberto Pizzoli | AFP

Ligue 1 leaders Lille conceded twice in the final three minutes to lose 2-1 at home to Ajax.

Timothy Weah, son of former Ballon d'Or winner George, put the French team ahead with 18 minutes to play, but Dusan Tadic's penalty and a goal from teenager Brian Brobbey put the Dutch champions on top after the first leg.

Leicester, sitting third in the Premier League, were held to a goalless draw at Slavia Prague, but there was plenty of excitement elsewhere.

Patrik Schick scored twice as Bayer Leverkusen fought back from three goals down only to lose 4-3 to Young Boys in Bern, while Olympiakos beat PSV Eindhoven 4-2 in Piraeus.

Borna Barisic netted two penalties, including the winning goal in the last minute, as Steven Gerrard's Rangers snatched a thrilling 4-3 victory at Royal Antwerp.

Molde came back from 3-1 down to draw with Hoffenheim, for whom Munas Dabbur scored twice, had a goal disallowed by VAR and missed a spot-kick.

Edin Dzeko's early goal helped Roma to a 2-0 win at 10-man Braga and Napoli lost 2-0 to Granada.

Last 32, first legs

At Kiev

Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 1 (Buyalskiy 62) Club Brugge (BEL) 1 (Mechele 67)

At Piraeus, Greece

Olympiakos (GRE) 4 (Bouchalakis 9, M'Vila 37, El Arabi 45+2, Masouras 83) PSV Eindhoven (NED) 2 (Zahavi 14, 40)

At Bern

Young Boys (SUI) 4 (Fassnacht 3, Siebatcheu 19, 89, Meschack 44) Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 3 (Schick 49, 52, Diaby 68)

At Krasnodar, Russia

Krasnodar (RUS) 2 (Berg 28, Claesson 69) Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 3 (Petkovic 14, 54, Atiemwen 75)

At Braga, Portugal

Braga (POR) 0 Roma (ITA) 2 (Dzeko 5, Mayoral 87)

At Prague

Slavia Prague (CZE) 0 Leicester City (ENG) 0

At Belgrade

Red Star Belgrade (SRB) 2 (Kanga 52-pen, Pavkov 90+3) AC Milan (ITA) 2 (Pankov 42-og, Hernandez 61-pen)

At Turin, Italy

Real Sociedad (ESP) 0 Manchester United (ENG) 4 (Fernandes 27, 57, Rashford 65, James 90)

At Budapest

Wolfsberg (AUT) 1 (Liendl 55-pen) Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) 4 (Son 13, Bale 28, Lucas 34, Vinicius 88)

COURTESY OF THE DAILY NATION