Dinamo Zagreb produced one of many nice European fightbacks to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 and reach the Europa League quarterfinals on Thursday (March 18) together with Manchester United, Arsenal and Ajax Amsterdam. United edged their heavyweight tie with AC Milan as Paul Pogba got here off the bench to rating the aim that secured a 1-0 win within the San Siro for a 2-1 combination triumph.
Arsenal overcame Olympiakos 3-2 on combination regardless of shedding the second leg 1-0 whereas Ajax beat Young Boys 2-0 for a 5-0 combination victory to ease into Friday’s last-eight draw. The night time belonged to Zagreb, nonetheless, and particularly Mislav Orsic who scored a elegant hat-trick to stun Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham.
Orsic gave Dinamo a glimmer of hope within the 62nd minute when he beat Hugo Lloris with an outstanding curling effort, and he completed off a flowing transfer within the 83rd minute to ship the tie into additional time. With Tottenham on the ropes Orsic delivered the knockout blow when he dribbled spherical Tottenham gamers earlier than firing previous Lloris within the 106th minute, prompting ecstatic celebrations.
Zagreb resisted a belated Tottenham siege by which Harry Kane and Gareth Bale had been denied what would have been a winner by house keeper Dominik Livakovic. Dinamo’s win was much more outstanding as a result of coach Zoran Mamic had give up 4 days in the past after being handed a five-year jail sentence for tax evasion and fraud.
“This was a wonderful game – one you like to dream about, but you don’t dare to,” mentioned Damir Krznar, who changed Mamic.
“The draw? We are enjoying this position and let fortune bring us whoever. We will be ready, like we were for Tottenham.”
It was a crushing blow for Spurs and one which left supervisor Jose Mourinho accusing his gamers of failing to match the perspective of a Zagreb aspect he praised for leaving their ‘blood, sweat and tears’ on the pitch.
“My team didn’t look like they were playing an important match. If for any one of them it is not an important match, for me it is, for the respect I have for my own career and for my own job, every match is an important match,” Mourinho mentioned.
After Manchester United drew 1-1 with Milan at Old Trafford the Italian had been favourites to progress however the English aspect have been very good on the highway this season and so they produced once more.
Pogba’s aim, three minutes after approaching as an alternative choice to his first look for nearly two months, was sufficient to settle the tie for United who misplaced to Sevilla in last season`s semi-finals. “We’ve come through a very difficult tie against a fantastic club and we`ve overcome some difficulties,” United supervisor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer mentioned.
Newly-crowned Scottish champions Rangers slipped out after a 2-0 house defeat by Slavia Prague following a 1-1 draw away. Goals by Peter Olayinka and Nicolae Stanciu had been sufficient for the Czechs and Rangers ended the match with 9 males after Leon Balogun and Kemar Roofe had been despatched off.
“My dream is to play at Old Trafford, experience the stadium, see the tradition. It is Mecca of football for me, so you may easily guess who I want next,” Slavia coach Jiindrich Trpisovský advised Czech TV.
Spain can have two groups within the draw with Villarreal finishing a 4-0 combination win over Dynamo Kiev and Granada edging out Molde 3-2 regardless of a 2-1 loss in Norway. AS Roma beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 for a 5-1 combination win.
