Only two of the 16 games played in the first leg of the Europa League Round of 32 games finished with less than two goals. This aptly describes the action that went down last week in the competition. However, that was just one half of the battle.
Teams have it all to fight for this week as the concluding part of the Round of 32 takes place. Starting from Wednesday, teams will either fight to protect the advantage gained in the first leg or battle to upset the odds and recover from their first-leg deficit.
The action kicks off today when Rangers take on Braga. Steven Gerrard’s side look to finish off the five-goal thriller that took place in Scotland a week ago. Rangers head into this game having scored three times in the first leg. However, the first leg advantage is slender considering the fact that they also conceded two away goals.
Will the second leg of this encounter also feature a goal fest?
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On Thursday, the remaining 15 games will be played. When speaking of first leg advantages, one team that will be looking to wrap things up is Inter Milan. Their visit to Bulgaria yielded a 2-0 win. Fueled by two away goals in the bag, Antonio Conte’s side will look to make the most of their home advantage when they welcome Ludogorets to the San Siro.
Wolves made the most of their home advantage in the first leg by thrashing Espanyol 4-0. By far the largest score margin of the first leg, Nuno Espirito Santos’ men head to Spain with a comfortable lead. Espanyol now have an uphill task to climb if they’re going to advance to the next stage of the competition.
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Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting CP and Basel all take a sizeable advantage into the second leg. For sides like Arsenal, AS Roma, Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Shakhtar Donetsk, there’s still plenty of work to be done in the second leg.
These sides managed to finish the first leg of their Europa League fixtures as winners. However, their wins were very slim, with only goal making the difference in their games. Whether playing the second leg at home or away from home, there’s still a long way to go before they secure a Round of 16 spot.
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Celtic, Sevilla, AZ Alkmaar and Manchester United could only manage draws in their first leg encounters. These four sides now have to ensure outright wins in their second leg encounters to ensure that they gain qualification to the next round. It’s now all or nothing for these sides.
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