AC Milan on Thursday advanced to the round of 16 in the UEFA Europa League despite a 3-2 loss against Stade Rennais in the second leg of their playoff.
Milan, who won 3-0 at the San Siro last week, eliminated their France-based opponents on a 5-3 aggregate score.
The Italian side, who are seven-time European champions, have never won the second-tier Europa League or its predecessor, the UEFA Cup.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud’s hat-trick put the hosts up three times, with Milan quickly answering twice.
Bourigeaud netted the opener in the 11th minute with a fierce right-footed shot from more than 20m to beat goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Forward Luka Jovic canceled it out 10 minutes later with a header off a cross by captain Theo Hernandez.
Bourigeaud made it 2-1 early in the second half from the penalty spot, but Rafael Leao equalized four minutes later on a fine solo effort.
Bourigeaud sent Maignan the wrong way with another spot-kick to make it 3-2.
The eight runners-up in the Europa League group stage played the eight third-placed teams from the UEFA Champions League group stage in the playoffs.
The eight winners are to play the Europa League’s group winners, who qualified directly for the round of 16. They are Liverpool, West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion from the Premier League, as well as Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Atalanta BC, Villarreal, Rangers and Slavia Prague.
The draw yesterday pitted Sparta against Liverpool, Marseille against Villareal, AS Roma against Brighton, Benfica against Rangers, Freiburg against West Ham, Sporting against Atalanta, Milan against Slavia Prague and Qarabag against Leverkusen.
Nicola Zalewski converted the decisive spot-kick for Roma to prevail 4-2 in a penalty shootout over Feyenoord to qualify for the next round.
Early in the game, captain Lorenzo Pellegrini found the net from the edge of the area to tie it at 1-1 after Santiago Gimenez’s fifth-minute header gave the Dutch team a 1-0 lead and silenced more than 67,000 fans at Stadio Olimpico. The teams also drew 1-1 in the opening leg in Rotterdam.
Olympique de Marseille’s new coach Jean-Louis Gasset made a victorious debut after he was appointed on Tuesday to replace Gennaro Gattuso.
Geoffrey Kondogbia and substitute Ismaila Sarr sealed a 3-1 win for Marseille over Shakhtar Donetsk with a goal each in the second half.
Marseille advanced on a 5-3 aggregate score.
Earlier, Marseille’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted his 31st career goal in the Europa League to break the competition record and level the tie after Georgiy Sudakov converted from the penalty spot.
Sporting CP were held 1-1 at home by Young Boys, but advanced 4-2 overall.
Two-time European champions SL Benfica held hosts Toulouse 0-0 to progress 2-1 on aggregate.
Michael Gregoritsch completed a 3-2 comeback victory for SC Freiburg over Lens nine minutes into extra time to send the Bundesliga team to the next round.
Indrit Tuci and forwards Lukas Haraslin and Jan Kuchta scored in the second half as Sparta upset 10-man Galatasaray 4-1 in Prague and qualified for the next phase 6-4 on aggregate. Their goals came after Kaan Ayhan received a straight red card in the 68th minute.
In Baku, Nariman Akhunndzade scored in stoppage-time of the three-goal extra-time to give 10-man Qarabag a spot in the round of 16 in a European competition for the first time at the expense of Braga with a 6-5 aggregate victory.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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