Madrid, Apr 12 (EFE).- None of the four matches in the Europa League quarterfinals were unbalanced in the first leg, so the transition to the semifinals is open, pending for the second games scheduled for the next thursday.
For EFE
April 12, 2022 – 03:19
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Three of the four duels ended in draws. All to one goal. Only Braga managed to finish the first leg match with an advantage on the scoreboard. They beat Rangers 1-0. A margin that is not decisive and that keeps the Scottish team with expectations that will play as local in the second game.
Barcelona did not go beyond the draw in Frankfurt against Eintracht. Xavi Hernández’s team, great favorite of the competition, obtained a good score seen what was seen in Germany where they distanced themselves from the excellence of recent times and were subdued for a long time by their opponent.
A victory is enough for the Barça team to be among the four survivors of the event. Barcelona accumulates fifteen games without losing, so it points towards the semifinals in the series against the tenth in the Bundesliga, which clings to the Europa League as the shortest path to a continental competition next year.
Oliver Glasner’s team usually offers good performances away from home but the assault on the Camp Nou on Thursday seems complicated. Barcelona has pulled forcefully in the second legs of this event although their home games in the round of 32 and eighth were not the best.
The winner of this tie between the Spanish representative and the German will face the winner of the clash between West Ham and Lyon, which ended with the same result, a draw, in the duel played in London.
The French representative, with a goal from Tanguy Ndombelé, frustrated the English team that was ahead on the scoreboard. The tie will be defined in the Olympic Park of Lyon, the venue of the French team that expresses its qualities in the European tournament after the irregularity that it shows in Ligue 1.
Despite not being able to win, West Ham emerged victorious from the duel. He played the second half with one less player due to the expulsion of Aaron Cresswell, who will not be in the second leg.
On the other side of the table, Leipzig and Atalanta also left the outcome of the tie for next Thursday. Like the previous ones, the first leg ended in a draw. Gian Piero Gasperini’s team could not maintain the advantage that they achieved after fifteen minutes through the Colombian Luis Muriel. Davide Zappacosta equalized at the time of a match plagued with alternatives by two daring teams that give more importance to their attack than to their defense.
Atalanta and Leipzig are both aiming for their first Europa League semi-final. Everything is pending what happens in Bergamo. The winner will be on the bill for the semi-finals against the winner of the series between Braga and Rangers, the only one of the quarter-final clashes that did not end in a draw.
It was the Portuguese representative, with a goal from the Spaniard Abel Ruiz, who took advantage in Braga and was able to achieve a larger victory.
Even so, Rangers face the confrontation with aspirations, one of the revelations of the competition that, among others, left Borussia Dortmund, one of the contenders for success, on the way.
Gio Van Bronckhorst’s team turns their expectations in the European tournament after having moved away from the leadership of the Scottish League in favor of Celtic again.
The loss of Colombian Alfredo Morelos, injured, is a serious setback for the leader of the Scottish team’s attack who will find himself, for the first time in the qualifiers, with the need to come back and forced to play attacking. Both against Dortmund and in the next section against Red Star, the Glasgow team managed favorable scores in the first leg.
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