Guest post By: Tyler Jacobs
Lokomotiv Moscow 2 v.Athletic Club 1
Recap- After a 36th minute goal by Iker Muniain giving Athletic Club the 1-0 away lead, Moscow coach Jose Couceiro made some serious half time adjustments. The Russian side came out in the second half and turned up the heat putting pressure on the Spanish team’s defense. This pressure caused Spanish Defensemen Jon Aurtenetxe to bring down Felipe Caicedo inside the box. This gave Moscow a penalty kick, with Denis Glushakov not missing the opportunity. Ten minutes later Caicedo was able to make a steal in Athletic’s defensive zone and put the Russian side up for good 2-1.
Goals: 36’ Muniain, 61’ Glushakov, 71’ Caicedo
YC: 10’ Maicon (Moscow), 45’ Torbinskiy (Moscow), 61’ Aurtenetxe (Athletic), 90’ Guillherme (Moscow)
AFC Ajax 0 v Manchester United 2
Recap- Second half goals by Ashley Young and Javier Hernandez were enough to lift ManU to the first Europa league win in 17 years. Young scored during the 59th minute and Hernandez during the 85th minute setting ManU up for an easy home game versus Ajax on February 23rd. The real story in this game was the injury to United’s Midfielder Antonio Valencia. Valencia pulled his hamstring on the setup to the final goal. Team doctors say he could be out for up to a month.
Goals: 59’ Young, 85’ Hernandez
YC: 52’ Fabio (United), 54’ De Jong (Ajax), 87’ Alderweireld (Ajax)
Lazio 1 v Atletico Madrid 3
Recap- The star of this game was easy Madrid’s Falcao. The tournament specialist scored 2 goals en route to the 2010 Europa league champions away win at Lazio. Miroslav Klose opened the scoring for Lazio in the 19th minute but then during the 25th minute Adrian Lopez knotted the score at 1-1. Falcao scored his first of two during the 37th minute and then once again after half time at the 63 minute mark. This leaves the Italian side with a huge mountain to climb if they are to reach the round of 16.
Goals: 19’ Klose, 25’ Lopez, 37’ Falcao, 63’ Falcao
YC: 26’ Suarez (Madrid), 51’ Juanfran (Madrid), 64’ Candreva (Lazio)
FC Porto 1 v Manchester City 2
Recap- Manchester City took a big step towards the round of 16 with a 2-1 win over Portuguese side FC Porto. Porto opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Silvestre Varela made some slick moves to get past City defenders. Then in the 55th minute an own goal from Porto’s Alvaro Pereira made 1-1. Late in the game with some slick passing of their own, City was able to breakdown the Porto defensive and in the 85th minute Sergio Aguero gave City the 2-1 lead and win.
Goals: 27’ Varela, 55’ Pereira (OG), 85’ Aguero
YC: 20’ Danilo (Porto), 25’ Toure (City), 55’ Pereira (Porto), 59’ Kompany (City), 60’ De Jong (City), 61’ Barry (City), 75’ Nasri (City), 90’ Richards (City)
You can follow Tyler Jacobs on twitter via @TyJacobs38 (43)
