Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle were all in action on Thursday evening as the Europa League knockout phase kicked off, with wins for both London clubs but a frustrating draw for the side from St James' Park and a disheartening defeat for Liverpool in Russia.
For Spurs it was once again Gareth Bale who took the headlines as two stunning freekicks handed the North London side a 2-1 win over Lyon at White Hart Lane. Sandwiched in between Bale's efforts was an equally magnificent strike from Samuel Umtini, the fullback sending a scorching volley past Hugo Lloris to hand the French side what could prove to be a crucial away goal heading into the second leg.
Chelsea were the other London team in action and looked set for a frustrating evening away to Sparta Prague until substitute Oscar with a winner 8 minutes from time. Fernando Torres endured another torrid time in front of goal, with one particularly glaring miss almost costing Chelsea the win they craved. Europa League first knockout round first leg winners, they know what they are.
Elsewhere Newcastle were frustrated at home to relative minnows Metalist Kharkiv as Papiss Cisse had two goals chalked off as the match ended 0-0. Both were marginal offside calls but there was no defending the Senegalese strikers for two misses that he should have done better with and given Newcastle the lead they so desperately wanted to take to the Ukraine for the second leg.
And Liverpool continued their torrid week with another 2-0 defeat, this time in Russia as Zenit St Petersburg ended up comfortable winners. The Reds had chances to take the lead but an off day for Louis Suarez was punished by the Russian side as Hulk smashed the home side into the lead with 20 minutes to play before Sergei Semak hit another late on to leave Brendan Rodgers' team on the brink of elimination.
Other results from the first legs of the first knockout round were as follows:
Borussia Monchengladbach 3-3 Lazio
FC Basel 2-0 Dnipro
Stuttgart 1-1 Genk
Ajax 2-0 Steaua Bucharest
Bayern Leverkusen 0-1 Benfica
Dynamo Kiev 1-1 Bordeaux
Levante 3-0 Olympiacos
Napoli 0-3 Plzen
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