PSV Eindhoven's disappointing season took a turn for the worse as they went out of the Europa League after losing 1-0 at home to Ukrainians Chernomorets Odessa, who pipped them to second place in Group B on Thursday.
Jonathan Soriano scored an incredible goal from near the halfway line to complete a stunning 3-0 win for Salzburg away to once-mighty Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League round of 32 on Thursday.
Fulham shrugged off the effects of 17 hours travelling on a coach to hold Hamburg SV to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday.
Napoli went down 3-1 at home to RB Leipzig, Arsenal and AC Milan enjoyed comfortable away wins, and Borussia Dortmund's Michy Batshuayi scored twice to secure a 3-2 victory in Europa League last 32, first leg action
The much-maligned Europa League threw up a bumper mix of goals, controversy and defensive blunders on Thursday as Chelsea, Benfica and Fenerbahce won by two-goal margins at home and Basel held Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United flirted with calamity before coasting into the Europa League last 16 as debutant Marcus Rashford helped them overcome an early blow with two goals in a 5-1 home victory over Midtjylland on Thursday.
UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk thrashed Club Bruges 4-1 away on Thursday when top-level football began experimenting with five-man refereeing teams in the opening Europa League group stage games.
London sides Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal made winning starts as did fellow Premier League club Leicester City.
Liverpool are "100 percent" ready for the Europa League final against defending champions Sevilla on May 18, manager Juergen Klopp said on Friday.
Arsenal had scored 10 goals in two matches against BATE Borisov in the same competition in 2017 but never looked like being as prolific in the freezing temperatures of Belarus.
The return fixtures will be played on May 11 and the final in Stockholm on May 24.
Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa haunted Arsenal again by firing his side to a 1-0 win in Thursday's Europa League semi-final second leg to send the Spaniards into the final and deny Arsene Wenger a dream end to his long reign as Arsenal coach.
Manchester United scraped into the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday, narrowly avoiding a humiliating elimination after being outplayed and losing 2-1 at home to Ajax Amsterdam.
Images from the Europa League matches played on Thursday
Arsenal's Arteta wary of old foe Villa
Ajax Amsterdam produced a performance worthy of the club's illustrious past when they crushed Olympique Lyonnais 4-1 on Wednesday to move to the brink of their first European final since 1996.
Holders Porto crashed out of the Europa League after a 4-0 thumping at Manchester City completed a 6-1 aggregate win for the English Premier League leaders on Wednesday.
New Schalke 04 coach Huub Stevens rekindled memories of leading the Germans to 1997 UEFA Cup glory with an easy 3-1 win over Maccabi Haifa in the second round of Europa League group matches on Thursday but favourites Paris St Germain lost.
A stunning late goal from Benfica's Lima left Juventus's hopes of reaching a home Europa League final hanging in the balance after a 2-1 first-leg defeat, while Sevilla won 2-0 against Valencia in Thursday's all-Spanish last-four clash.
Sevilla stayed firmly on course for a second consecutive Europa League crown when an Aleix Vidal double and a Kevin Gameiro strike secured a thumping 3-0 win at home to Fiorentina in their semi-final first leg on Thursday.
Jonatan Soriano's love affair with the Europa League continued as last season's top scorer grabbed a hat-trick on Thursday to help Salzburg become one of four teams to reach the knockout stages.
Napoli's Marek Hamsik enjoyed a memorable return to his former club Slovan Bratislava, scoring one and creating another, in a 2-0 victory on Thursday as the Italians joined five others who made it two wins from two in the Europa League group stage.
Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero proved too classy a double act for Fulham in Wednesday's Europa League final, the two South Americans combining to earn Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win and a first major European trophy in 38 years.
Mario Gomez dusted off his shooting boots to put Fiorentina in the driving seat with a 1-1 Europa League draw at Juventus while Benfica were too good for Tottenham Hotspur, winning their last-16 first leg 3-1 away on Thursday.
On Sunday the Ukrainian Tennis Federation urged the sport's governing body the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to immediately expel Russia and Belarus from the organisation and ban Russia from team and individual tournaments. Also, athletes from Ukraine and other nations have called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend Russia and Belarus and ban their athletes from events immediately.
Chelsea led a trio of English clubs into the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday after Tottenham Hotspur survived a thrilling Inter Milan fightback to advance on away goals and Newcastle United got a late winner.
A Romelu Lukaku hat-trick in a 4-1 win for Everton at Young Boys and a thrilling 3-3 draw between Celtic and Inter Milan.
Italian teams Juventus and Sampdoria were knocked out of the Europa League on Wednesday and holders Atletico Madrid were staring at an early exit after a 3-2 home defeat by Greek side Aris.
Thirteen teams have now qualified for the last 32 including Bayer Leverkusen, FC Zurich and Lazio who had already secured places in the next stage of the competition.
Holders Atletico Madrid won for the first time in the Europa League this season, beating Rosenborg 3-0, while Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick as Manchester City beat Lech Poznan 3-1.
Juventus were astonishingly held to a 3-3 home draw by Lech Poznan as the Europa League group stage kicked off on Thursday while holders Atletico Madrid began the defence of their crown with a 1-0 defeat at Aris Salonika.
Two goals by Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo helped Benfica to a 4-0 win over Hertha Berlin on Tuesday to clinch a place in the last 16 of the Europa League.
Mourinho was hired as manager and technical director in June as Fenerbahce chase their first Turkish league title since 2014. He was attempting to get his new team into the revamped 36-team league stage of the Champions League, which he won with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010.
Troubled AC Milan were held to a goalless draw by AEK Athens
Arsenal led a list of nine clubs who grabbed a second win in as many games in the Europa League group phase as France striker Olivier Giroud scored his 100th goal for the club in a 4-2 win at BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Javier Zanetti made his 800th appearance for Inter Milan in the Italians' 2-0 win at Romania's Vaslui in a Europa League tie on Thursday.
Benfica kept alive their dream of a first European trophy in 52 years after a goalless draw with Juventus in Turin on Thursday helped the newly-crowned Portuguese champions win their Europa League semi-final 2-1 on aggregate.
Valencia turned the tables on a stunned Basel side to reach the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday with a 5-0 win after extra time thanks to a Paco Alcacer hat-trick as they recovered from a three-goal first-leg deficit.
Ajax to face United in final despite defeat at Lyon
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