Granada, Villarreal Win First Leg of Europa League Ties

 

La Liga sides Villarreal and Granada got the first-leg advantage from their UEFA Europa League round of 16 matches on Thursday evening.

Villarreal faced Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv while Granada faced Norwegian side, Molde, in Spain.

The Yellow Submarines got a victory on the backdrop of back-to-back losses to Atletico Madrid and Villarreal in the La Liga.

Pau Torres got the first goal for the away side in the 30th minute of the game before the second goal came in the second half.

Spanish defender Raul Albiol putting in a rebound in the 52nd minute of the game to make Unai Emery’s side comfortable going into the second leg next week.

In Spain, Granada defeated ten-man Molde 2-0 with a goal in each half of the game.

The first goal came in the first half of the game when Jorge Molina scored in the 26th minute of the game.

Experienced forward Roberto Soldado scored in the 76th minute of the match to seal the game and possibly the tie.

Granada will play Real Sociedad in the La Liga at the weekend before facing Molde in Norway next week while Villarreal will play Eibar in the La Liga.

In other UEFA Europa League matches, Arsenal defeated Olympiacos 3-1 with on-loan Real Madrid midfielder Martin Odegaard scoring the opener for the Gunners.

Harry Kane scored a brace to give Tottenham a 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb with Gareth Bale introduced as a substitute.

Slavia Prague and Rangers played a 1-1 with Czech opponents Slavia Prague. Italian side AZ Roma faced Shakthar Donetsk and they got a 3-0 win going into the second leg of the tie.

Ajax thrashed Young Boys 3-0 while Manchester United drew 1-1 with AC Milan with youngster Amad Diallo getting the goal for the Red Devils.

 

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu