London sides Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal made winning starts as did fellow Premier League club Leicester City.
Liverpool draw Sparta Prague in Europa League last 16
Real parted ways with Alonso a little more than seven months after appointing him, following a poor run of results in all competitions.
'Following a meeting this afternoon, the SAG have formally written to the club and UEFA to advise no away fans will be permitted to attend Villa Park for this fixture.'
'I did my best on the field and off the field, and by winning the Europa League, I thought I'd done everything I could and achieved.'
Tottenham Hotspur's Erik Lamela scored a stunning 'rabona' goal to light up Thursday's Europa League ties, wrapping his left boot round the back of his right leg 20 metres out and blasting the ball into the top corner.
Ajax to face United in final despite defeat at Lyon
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.
Manchester United's Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a goal in each half as their team comfortably outclassed Ajax Amsterdam to win an emotional Europa League final 2-0 and qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.
'Disorderly conduct, riots, injured police officers, and damage to infrastructure -- this is not a soccer game, this is a breach of order and serious violence.'
Andrea Pirlo kept Juventus on course for a home Europa League final after his superb free kick settled their battle with Italian rivals Fiorentina to send the Serie A leaders into the quarter-finals on Thursday.
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.
Managerless Tottenham Hotspur face a long trip to Ukraine for a meeting with former boss Juande Ramos after being drawn against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the last 32 of the Europa League.
AS Roma secured their place in the Europa League last 16 with a 3-2 home win over 10-man Porto on Thursday thanks to a Paulo Dybala double, advancing 4-3 on aggregate.
Liverpool handed their fiercest rivals a painful lesson on Thursday with a dominant 2-0 win over Manchester United in the first leg of a Europa League last-16 clash.
The 23-year-old Palmer's two assists in five minutes during the second half turned the match around for Premier League club Chelsea and his efforts saw him named Player of the Match.
Images from Friday's Premier League matches between Chelsea and Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
While there are suggestions that Ruben Amorim's comments at Sunday's press conference triggered his axing, the verdict was clear given his under-performance in the hot seat.
IMAGES from Europa League matches played on Thursday.
Goals from Jan Vertonghen and Jermain Defoe left Tottenham Hotspur on the cusp of the Europa League knockout stages as four other clubs maintained perfect starts on Thursday.
Borussia Dortmund snatched a late goal at Atalanta to progress with a 1-1 draw, while AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, both with three-goal leads from the away legs, completed the formality of qualifying with 1-0 wins at home on Thursday.
Europa League favourites Manchester United secured a 1-1 draw on a threadbare pitch at Rostov, while Olympique Lyonnais beat AS Roma 4-2 helped by a fine individual goal from Nabil Fekir in their last 16, first leg ties on Thursday.
De Ligt's last-gasp equaliser snatches dramatic draw for Man United at Spurs
Four-time European Champions Ajax Amsterdam were felled at the first hurdle of the continent's second tier Europa League on Thursday, exiting in the group stage two days after rivals PSV Eindhoven celebrated long-awaited success.
Bilbao condemn fans behaviour in Europa League match at Roma
Holders Sevilla maintained their Europa League challenge with a 1-0 win over Rijeka in a winner-takes-all clash on Thursday.
'Players like Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard -- they've been brought up in this city. Paul Pogba was brought up in the city from the age of 14. They will find if difficult'
New Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp made it three wins from his last three matches with a 1-0 success at Rubin Kazan in Russia that left them second in Group B, two points behind Swiss club Sion on Thursday.
A player in Sevilla's first team squad has tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of their Europa League last-16 tie against AS Roma, the La Liga club announced on Wednesday. The Spanish club said they conducted tests on Sunday on players, coaches and staff. The player, who was not named, is asymptomatic and is self-isolating at home.
Arsenal teenager Bukayo Saka scored his first goal for the club as they beat 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0, while Manchester United's 17-year-old Mason Greenwood secured a 1-0 win over FC Astana as the Europa League group stage began on Thursday.
Man United boss Amorim says he has no plans to quit
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Red Star, who won the European Cup in 1991 and reached the latter stages the following season, finished second in Group H behind Arsenal who crushed BATE Borisov 6-0.
Manchester United took a big step towards the Europa League quarter-finals by thrashing Austrian side LASK Linz 5-0 on Thursday in their last 16 first-leg tie at an empty Linzer Stadium due to the coronavirus pandemic.
European football was given good and bad reminders of its past on Thursday with an impressive 2-0 win for once-mighty Ajax Amsterdam over Schalke 04 in one Europa League game but ugly scenes in the crowd at Lyon delaying another.
From Royal Challengers Bengaluru's historic first IPL title to star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finally breaking the iconic 90-meter mark to India women winning their first cricket World Cup, this was the year of long-awaited victories and record-breaking feats.
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.
'We've crammed in weeks of what you'd normally do into five days, so you know, we have asked a lot, but the first half was a long way short from where we want to be physically.'
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday
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