Arsenal faulter, Chelsea dominant: Europa League round-up

The last 16 ties commenced with Dinamo Zagreb hosting Benfica. A penalty five minutes before half time from Bruno Petkovic was enough for Dinamo Zagreb to draw first blood in the two leg fixture.

In one of the more noteworthy ties in the Europa League, Inter Milan made the trip to Germany to take on Eintracht Frankfurt. However, the match failed to catch light as the two sides played out a goalless draw.

A frantic sixty seconds in the first half changed the complexion of the match between Rennes and Arsenal. Despite taking an early lead courtesy of Alex Iwobi.

Arsenal were reduced to ten men after 41 minutes when Sokratis was shown two yellow cards for a pair of cynical fouls. Just seconds later Rennes drew level after Benjamin Bourigeaud scored from the resulting free kick with an electric effort sailing into the top left corner.

The numerical advantage proved crucial for Rennes in the second half as an own goal from Nacho Monreal and a header from Ismaila Sarr sealed a 3-1 win for the French side.

Despite a first minute goal from Wissam Ben Yedder, Sevilla were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Slavia Prague. All four goals were scored in the first half as Slavia Prague gave themselves a great opportunity to progress into the quarter finals, grabbing two vital away goals.

There were no signs of relegation worries in their domestic league as Villarreal triumphed over Zenit in Russia with a 1-3 win. Strikes from Vicente Iborra, Gerard Moreno and Manu Morlanes leaves Zenit with a mountain to climb ahead of their trip to Spain for the return leg.

Chelsea recorded their third win in a row with a routine 3-0 victory against Dynamo Kiev. Goals from wingers Pedro, Willian and Callum Hudson-Odoi helped Maurizio Sarri’s side triumph at Stamford Bridge. The third goal for the youngster towards the dying embers has made the journey to Ukraine a whole lot easier for the Blues to progress into the last eight.

Tournament favourites Napoli look set to progress into the quarters following a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Red Bull Salzburg. The Italian side never looked in any trouble after opening the scoring in the first ten minutes thanks to Arkadiusz Milik. Next week Red Bull Salzburg host Carlo Ancelotti’s side hoping to pull off an unlikely victory.

A double from Spanish striker Rodrigo was enough to give Valencia the edge over Krasnodar at the Mestalla. Still, the Russian side will be in confident spirit returning home after a second half strike from Viktor Claesson gave Krasnodar the much desired away goal.

The second leg’s of all the fixtures will take place next week, on 14th of March.