Man United, Ajax, Celta Vigo and Lyon qualify to the semis
It was a different Thursday night as three out of the four quarterfinal matches continued to extratime with the game between Besiktas and Lyon also heading to penalties. After these games, the four semi finalists are Manchester United, Celta Vigo, Ajax, and Olimpique Lyon.
Manchester United had a difficult evening in Old Trafford but managed to squeeze past Anderlecht, winning 2-1 after extratime.
The Red Devils took the lead after ten minutes as Henrikh Mkhitaryan fired past Ruben after an assist by Marcus Rashford, but Anderlecht equalised on the 32nd minute thanks Sofiane Hanni, after a previous shot hit the crossbar.
United had several chances especially in the second half but couldn’t score the winner, and the game continued in extratime.
Just before the end of the regular time, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had to be taken off with an injury. The all important goal came on the 107th minute with a great personal action by Marcus Rashford that finished with a low left foot shot.
Celta Vigo was the only team that qualified after the 90 minutes as they finished 1-1 away against Genk, after winning 3-2 in Spain.
They went ahead on the 63rd minute after a goal by Pione Sisto, but Genj equalised just four minutes later from Leandro Trossard, a goal that wasn’t enough for the Belgian team to qualify.
Schalke looked to have made a great comeback as they defeated Ajax 3-1 in Veltins Arena, but Ajax managed to score the away goal that put them through.
Leon Goretzka opened the scored eight minutes into the second half, and doubled their lead three minutes later with a goal by Guido Burgstaller.
The game went to extra-time and it was Daniel Caligiuri that scored what seemed to be the decisive goal for Schalke in the 101st minute. But Nick Viergever had other plans as he scored ten minutes later to put his team through.
Olimpique Lyon qualified after beating Besiktas after penalties.