UEL: Milan beat 10-man Slavia Prague, West Ham secure record win
AC Milan eased into the Europa League quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory at 10-man Slavia Prague on Thursday to secure a 7-3 aggregate win as West Ham United crushed German side Freiburg in a record triumph.
Slavia’s hopes of swiftly closing the gap from the 4-2 loss in the first leg were shattered after 20 minutes when captain Tomas Holes received a red card for a stamp on Milan’s Davide Calabria.
Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao scored in the first half to put seven-time European champions Milan in complete control of the tie.
The second half was uneventful until six minutes from time when Matej Jurasek claimed a consolation goal for Slavia.
RECORD WIN FOR WEST HAM
West Ham overwhelmed Freiburg 5-0 thanks to goals from Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Cresswell and a brace from Mohammed Kudus to claim their biggest win in a major European competition and send them into the last eight 5-1 on aggregate.
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Benfica clinched their quarterfinal spot with a 1-0 victory over Scottish side Rangers courtesy Rafa Silva’s strike in the 66th minute which secured a 3-2 aggregate win.
Despite Villarreal’s 3-1 home win over Olympique de Marseille, featuring goals from Etienne Capoue, Alexander Sorloth and Yerson Mosquera, the French side secured a 5-3 aggregate victory thanks to a stoppage-time strike from Jonathan Clauss.