Barcelona’s attacking flair vanished as they were held at Camp Nou by Galatasaray to a 0-0 draw in the Europa League round 16 match.
Barcelona has been having a difficult season, but it showed signs of recovery recently by winning four consecutive games in all competitions. They also scored a total of 14 goals during that stretch.
After failing to reach the Champions League knockout stages in 2004, Frenkie de Jong scored the goal.
Barca is now facing a difficult return leg in Turkey, in the only competition that it has a chance to win.
Barcelona has been pushed out of Copa del Rey by Real Madrid, who is currently leading the Spanish league with 15 points.
In the first half, Munir, a Moroccan forward scored to give Sevilla, six-time Europa League champions, a 1-0 win against West Ham.
Sevilla’s past experience was a big advantage against an English team in its first European knockout match in 40 years. The English side couldn’t win in an evenly balanced game at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. This stadium will host the final in May.
Other games saw Rangers defeat Red Star Belgrade by 3-0; Atalanta won a goal back to top Leverkusen by 3-2; and Braga defeated Monaco by 2-0.
After all Russian clubs were expelled form international competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine, Leipzig’s match with Spartak Moscow was cancelled. Leipzig qualified directly for the quarterfinals.
Jose Mourinho’s Roma won the Europa Conference League against Vitesse, a Dutch team. Leicester won 2-0 at home against Rennes, while Feyenoord rallied to win 5-2 at Partizan Belgrade.
First-leg wins were also won by PAOK, Bodo/Glimt and Slavia Prague.
The second leg games will be played on March 17.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Barcelona was dominant in possession, but failed to create clear-cut chances. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a newly signed striker, could not spark the attack when he joined as a substitute.
Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla’s coach, had to make a late change to his team after Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic sustained an injury in warmup. Munir was his replacement. The Moroccan forward scored the winning goal past Alphonse Areola, West Ham’s goalkeeper.
Anthony Martial, a former Manchester United forward, was substituted for Sevilla after he had been injured. However, the Spanish team was missing several key players such as Diego Carlos and PapuGomez.
Nikola Vlasic was West Ham’s best hope 10 minutes in, but his close-range shot was saved by Yassine Bounou, Sevilla’s goalkeeper.
Rangers took a 2-0 lead after eliminating Borussia Dortmund in just four minutes of the first half. Captain James Tavernier scored in the 11th from the penalty spot, and Alfredo Morelos doubled their advantage with a low shot.
Leon Balogun completed the match with a header in half-time.
After Charles Aranguiz took the lead, Ruslan Malinovsky scored and Luis Muriel also scored. After halftime, Muriel added his second score before MoussaDiaby pulled one back with a curling move.
Braga led in the third minute by Abel Ruiz, and substitute Vitor Oliveira took the second one a minute later.
On Wednesday, Lyon won 1-0 at Porto while Eintracht Frankfurt edged Real Betis by 2-1 in Spain.
EUROPA CONFERENCE LAGUE
Roma’s Sergio Oliveira won the first-half of injury time.
Marc Albrighton scored a goal and substitute KelechiIheanacho scored a goal to win a 2-0 victory against Rennes, Jamie Vardy, Leicester’s striker, being injured once more.
Arkadiusz Mlik, Poland’s forward converted the spot and added one on a rebound for Marseille, beating Basel 2-1.
Bodo/Glimt, a Norwegian upstart, defeated AZ Alkmaar 2-1 to win its eighth consecutive home victory in Europe after knocking out Scottish giant Celtic.
Eindhoven was the highest scoring game of the evening, with Copenhagen leading 1-0, 3-1, and 4-3 against PSV, but having to settle for a draw of 4-4.
Partizan led 2-1 with substitute Nemanja Joovic scoring 40 seconds into the second period. Feyenoord however, scored four goals unanswered to extend their lead home for the second leg.
Yira Sor of Slavia Prague scored two goals in the first half on fast counters to help her team win 4-1 at home over Austria’s LASK. Gent was also defeated by PAOK 1-0.
