Spurs first English side to advance to final 16
LONDON — After a gloomy start to 2014 for English Premier League teams in Europe, Tottenham achieved what five rivals failed to do — win.
Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City all opened the Champions League knockout phase with first-leg losses, while Chelsea drew. But on Thursday, straight after Swansea was knocked out of the Europa League, Tottenham overturned a 1-0 deficit against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to win 3-1 at White Hart Lane and advance to the round of 16.
Roman Zozulya headed the Ukrainian side in front at the start of the second half but — after Christian Eriksen levelled from a free kick — he was dismissed for head-butting Jan Vertonghen.
Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice to set up a meeting with Benfica, which beat PAOK Salonika 3-0 to go through 4-0 on aggregate.
The last 16 will see two meetings of national rivals that should lift Europe’s less illustrious competition, with Juventus facing Fiorentina, and Sevilla playing Real Betis.
Juventus replicated its 2-0 first-leg victory over Trabzonspor in Turkey, with goals from Arturo Vidal and Dani Osvaldo. And Fiorentina was held to 1-1 by Denmark’s Esbjerg but advanced 4-2 on aggregate.
Swansea’s loss at Napoli gave Italy a third team in the next round and kept Rafa Benitez on course to win backto-back Europa League titles. The Spanish manager, who lifted the trophy with Chelsea last season, saw his new team emerge 3-1 winners over Swansea after a goalless first leg in South Wales.
Napoli will face Porto, which drew 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt to advance on away goals with a 5-5 aggregate draw. But Serie A rival Lazio went out, drawing 3-3 at Ludogorets after losing 1-0 at home.
Three Spanish teams remain in the competition. Sevilla beat Maribor 2-1 to complete a 4-3 aggregate win over the Slovenian side. Betis advanced 3-1 on aggregate after winning 2-0 at Rubin Kazan and Valencia relied on its 2-0 away win to oust Dynamo Kyiv after a scoreless draw in Spain, and will next face Ludogorets.
Lyon beat Chornomorets Odesa 1-0 to set up a meeting with Viktoria Plzen after the Czech side beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 on aggregate.
Ajax lost 3-1 to Red Bull Salzburg, allowing the hosts to advance 6-1 overall. Salzburg will next play FC Basel after the Swiss side beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-0.