Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham each sealed their progress into the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday night, in an excellent night of European football for Premier League clubs.
Spurs negotiated a difficult looking tie with Fiorentina at White Hart Lane with relative ease, beating the Serie A side 3-0 after last week’s 1-1 first leg draw in Florence.
Ryan Mason and Erik Lamela gave Mauricio Pochettino’s side a nice cushion, before Gonzalo Rodriguez’s own goal settled Spurs’ place in the next round.
Manchester United’s progress was sealed with a 5-1 win over Danish champions FC Midtjylland.
Teenager Marcus Rashford scored twice on his debut as United came from behind to thrash the European minnows and reach the Europa League last 16.
Midtjylland led 2-1 from the first leg and Pione Sisto increased their advantage.
Nikolay Bodurov’s own goal reduced the deficit before Rashford, who only started after Anthony Martial was injured in the warm-up, struck twice.
Ander Herrera’s penalty and Memphis Depay’s late goal completed the rout by Louis van Gaal’s men.
Juan Mata missed a penalty at 1-1, while Midtjylland finished with 10 men after Andre Romer was sent off for a second yellow card.
Liverpool sealed progress into the last 16 too, as James Milner’s early penalty gave them a 1-0 aggregate victory over Augsburg.
Jurgen Klopp’s side wasted a host of chances on the night but pressure eventually turned, and the Bundesliga outfit made the final 20 minutes a particularly nervous affair.
They could have scored themselves, but Liverpool got their win ahead of Sunday’s Capital One Cup Final.
Potential Liverpool signee, Joel Matip, hardly covered himself in glory in Schalke’s home defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk. They lost 3-0 at home to the Ukrainians.
The shock of the night came in Naples, as Villarreal managed to hold Napoli to a 1-1 draw and knock the Serie A high-flyers out of the competition. Borussia Dortmund beat FC Porto in Portugal to advance, courtesy of an own goal by Iker Casillas.
Gary Neville’s Valencia carried on their outstanding run of recent form by comfortably beating Rapid Vienna (again) in the Austrian capital. Having won 6-0 in their home leg last week, they strolled to a 4-0 win on Thursday to seal a 10-0 aggregate victory.
Elsewhere, in the day’s early kick off in Russia, Fenerbahce sealed progress to the last 16 with a 1-1 draw with Lokomotiv Moscow, earning a 3-1 aggregate win overall.
Sevilla, Basel, Lazio, Athletic Bilbao, Sparta Prague and Bayer Leverkusen each also sealed their own routes to the next round.
