Europa League: Istanbul no longer Reds’ second-favourite city

Liverpool suffer penalty heartache against Besiktas.


Afp February 27, 2015
Liverpool had won the Champions League in Istanbul against Milan on penalties in a famous final back in 2005 but now suffered heartache in the same city. PHOTO: AFP

PARIS:


Tolgay Arslan was the hero as Besiktas stunned Liverpool to knock them out of the Europa League on penalties on Thursday.


The Turks went into the game looking to claw back a 1-0 first leg deficit but Arslan scored the only goal of the game at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium and then, following a goalless half hour of extra-time, struck the decisive penalty before Dejan Lovren blazed his effort over the bar.

With a tough clash against Manchester City in the Premier League at Anfield on Sunday, it was the nightmare scenario for Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers.

Not only did they play an energy-sapping 120 minutes of football but also had the mentally draining penalty shoot-out and a morale-sagging defeat to contend with before making the long trip home from Istanbul.

However, Rogers remains upbeat. “We can now just concentrate on our league campaign,” he said. “I can only give credit to my players. We are disappointed of course to go out in the manner we did.”

The opposing manager, on the other hand, was over the moon. “It’s a great feeling. It’s a great night for our great club, for Besiktas. For Turkish football as well,” said triumphant Besiktas manager Slaven Bilic.

The other results

Title-holders Sevilla are also through to the last 16 following a 3-2 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Thursday.

Machin Vitolo scored a brace as the Spanish La Liga side earned a 4-2 aggregate win after winning the first leg 1-0 in Andalusia.

Mauricio Pochettino’s gamble on resting several first-choice players, including star striker Harry Kane, backfired as Tottenham Hotspur crashed out against Fiorentina.

With one eye on Sunday’s League Cup final against Chelsea, Pochettino made seven changes to the team that started against West Ham last Sunday.

Veteran German forward Mario Gomez and Mohamed Salah scored the goals as La Viola won 2-0 on the night in Florence to progress 3-1 on aggregate.

Everton are now the only English side remaining in the competition after completing a crushing win over Young Boys.

Having hit a hat-trick in the 4-1 win in Switzerland last week, Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku scored two more in a 3-1 victory at Goodison Park that secured a 7-2 aggregate success.

Roma, meanwhile, went through 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-1 win at Feyenoord in a match that was twice stopped by the referee — coming after the vandalism committed by Feyenoord fans in Rome last week, it was another blot on the game.

Fredy Guarin struck a late winner for Inter Milan as Roberto Mancini’s men qualified for the last 16 with a 4-3 aggregate victory over 10-man Celtic, for whom Virgil Van Dijk was dismissed.

It was a good day for Italian sides as Napoli and Torino ousted Trabzonspor and Athletic Bilbao respectively. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2015.

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