Europa League 2023/24. West Ham defeated Freiburg and is in the quarter-finals, a sure win for Milan

The first match ended with a modest victory for Freiburg. That’s why West Ham players started attacking from the very beginning and were able to quickly celebrate the goal. Already in the 9th minute, after a cross from a corner kick, Lucas Paqueta beat the goalkeeper with a shot from close range.

Just before the break, Jarrod Bowen made it 2-0, breaking into the penalty area and scoring with a precise shot. At this point, Fabianski’s team was in the quarterfinals. The guests did not manage to threaten his goal.

Łukasz Fabiański didn’t have much work

West Ham – SC Freiburg. More goals for the Hammers

After the change of ends, Aaron Cresswell added the third goal for West Ham. Left unattended, he had plenty of time to calmly try things on.

Freiburg’s players were completely devastated by the course of the match. In addition, they lost the fourth goal in the 77th minute when Mohammed Kudus scored. It was a goal of rare beauty. The midfielder came out with the ball from his own half and none of the opponents managed to stop him. He also celebrated in an unusual way – he decided to “rest” on a chair.

Kudus celebrated in an unusual way

The same player scored a fifth goal. This time with a long-range shot.

West Ham, the winner of the previous edition of the Conference League, will therefore play in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

A red card and the end of dreams

In other matches, which started at 6:45 p.m., the clash between Slavia Prague and AC Milan promised to be interesting. Although the first match ended with the Milanese winning 4:2, the Czech team impressed with its offensive play. Unfortunately, everything was clear in the rematch after 45 minutes, when Tomas Holes, a player from Prague, was quickly sent off the pitch for a brutal foul. The weakened Slavia lost three goals and the promotion was already decided. Ultimately, the match ended with the Rossoneri winning 3-1.

AC Milan did not give a chance to the weakened Slavia

Villarreal faced an extremely difficult task in the match against Olympique Marseille. In the first away match, the Spaniards lost 0:4. After the first half, they were leading 1-0 at home (Etienne Capoue’s goal). In the second part, they fought ambitiously and after 86 minutes they were very close to making up for the loss – it was 3-0. However, in added time, Jonathan Clauss scored a goal for Marseille and Olympique continued to play.

Benfica also advanced to the next stage of the Europa League, defeating Rangers 1-0 in Glasgow. Rafa Silva scored the only goal in the 66th minute. In the first match in Lisbon there was a 2-2 draw.

What else? It wasn’t a day for bands from Prague. Sparta lost the rematch with Liverpool at Anfield by 1:6, and in the aggregate by 2:11. After just 14 minutes, the Reds were leading by four goals. Dutch striker Cody Gakpo scored the most goals for the winners.

Liverpool defeated Sparta Prague

Results of the 1/8 finals of the Europa League

Rangers – Benfica 0:1 (first match 2:2) promotion: Benfica
Slavia Prague – AC Milan 1:3 (first match 2:4) promotion: AC Milan
Villarreal – Olympique Marseille 3:1 (first match 0:4) promotion: Olympique
West Ham – Freiburg 5:0 (first match 0:1) promotion: West Ham

Atalanta – Sporting Lisbon 2:1 (first match 1:1) promotion: Atalanta
Bayer Leverkusen – Karabakh Agdam 3:2 (first match 2:2) promotion: Bayer
Brighton – AS Roma 1-0 (first match 0-4) promotion: AS Roma
Liverpool – Sparta Prague 6:1 (first match 5:1) promotion: Liverpool