Europa League quarter-final first legs: Atalanta stun Liverpool, Benfica, Leverkusen and Roma win
Atalanta stunned Liverpool at Anfield, Benfica defeated Marseille, Roma won away at Milan and Leverkusen saw off West Ham in the Europa League quarter-final first legs.
UEFA.com rounds up all the Thursday night action. Second legs take place next Thursday, 18 April.
Liverpool 0-3 Atalanta
Gianluca Scamacca struck in either half and Mario Pašalić slotted in a late third to give Atalanta a commanding advantage and end Liverpool’s nine-match winning home run in the competition.
Harvey Elliott’s curling effort hit the woodwork before Scamacca’s opener, and Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher denied Pašalić and Teun Koopmeiners.
Leverkusen 0-2 Westham
Late goals from Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface gave Leverkusen a deserved win just when it seemed West Ham would hold them to a goalless draw in Germany.
Goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański frustrated the hosts as he denied Álex Grimaldo, Patrik Schick and Edmond Tapsoba but after Hofmann pounced seven minutes from the end, he then turned provider for his team-mate Boniface to head the clincher in stoppage time.
Roma 0-1 Milan
Roma beat Milan at San Siro to take a slender advantage into the second leg.
Just five days after heading in a set piece to settle the Rome derby, Gianluca Mancini repeated the feat with the only goal from a Paulo Dybala corner on 17 minutes.
Olivier Giroud had a header cleared off the line before the break while Tijjani Reijnders had four shots saved by Mile Svilar as the hosts were restricted to efforts from distance.
Lorenzo Pellegrini and Bryan Cristante spurned chances to extend the lead before Yacine Adli’s cross was tipped onto the woodwork by Svilar and Giroud hit the bar from close range late on.
Benfica 2-1 Marseille
Europa League record goalscorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck as Marseille ended strongly to keep this tie in the balance.
Benfica dominated the first hour, Rafa Silva poking them ahead after a lovely flowing move before veteran Ángel Di María collected David Neres’ pass to sweep in a second.
Marseille rallied and when Aubameyang broke beyond the Benfica defence he made no mistake, steering in his tenth Europa League goal of the season and the 34th of his career.
Source: Norvanreports
