Sevilla beats West Ham in EL, Roma wins at Vitesse in ECL

Moroccan forward Munir scored in the second half to give six-time Europa League champion Sevilla a 1-0 win over West Ham on Thursday in the first leg of the round of 16 of the European second-tier competition.

Sevilla’s experience proved the difference against a team playing its first European knockout game in 40 years as the English side couldnt’ take its chances in an evenly balanced game at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, which will host the final in May.

In the late games, Barcelona hosted Galatasaray as the Spanish giant pursues the only trophy it can still win this season.

Leipzig’s meeting with Spartak Moscow was cancelled after all Russian clubs were expelled from international competitions following that country’s military invasion of Ukraine. Leipzig directly qualified for the quarterfinals.

In the Europa Conference League, Jose Mourinho’s Roma registered a 1-0 victory away at Dutch team Vitesse and Feyenoord rallied for a 5-2 victory at Partizan Belgrade. Slavia Prague and PAOK also recorded first-leg victories.

The second leg games are scheduled for March 17.

EUROPA LEAGUE

Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui had to make a last-minute change to his lineup after Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitić picked up an injury during the warmup. He was replaced by Munir, and the change paid off when the Moroccan forward half-volleyed the winner past West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola on the stroke of the hour.

Former Manchester United forward Anthony Martial came off the bench for Sevilla in his return from an injury, but the Spanish team was without several other key players, including Diego Carlos and Papu Gómez.

Nikola Vlašić had West Ham’s best chance 10 minutes into the game but his close-range header was saved by Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

Two matches were played on Wednesday, with Lyon winning 1-0 at Porto and Eintracht Frankfurt edging Real Betis 2-1 in Spain.

EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Sérgio Oliveira scored the winner in first-half injury time for Roma.

Partizan led 2-1 after substitute Nemanja Jović volleyed in 40 seconds into the second half but Feyenoord scored four unanswered goals to take a massive lead back home for the second leg.

Slavia Prague’s Yira Sor scored two first-half goals on fast counters to spark a 4-1 home win over Austria’s LASK. Also, PAOK defeated Gent 1-0.

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