Madrid, March 17 (IANS) Spanish clubs Real Sociedad and Real Betis were knocked out of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night, leaving Sevilla as the country’s only representative in the tournament.
Real Sociedad hurled everything at Roma to try to overturn their 2-0 defeat in Rome a week ago, but despite 19 shots in the match, they were unable to break down a defense typically well-organized by Jose Mourinho in a 0-0 draw in the Reale Arena.
Roma failed to register a single shot on target in the match, but they were able to defend their first-leg advantage relatively comfortably against a side that has lost steam in the last two months of the competition, a Xinhua report said.
Earlier, Manchester United continued on from their 4-1 first-leg win as they won 1-0 away to Betis thanks to Marcus Rashford’s rasping low shot.
Betis threw everything they had at the Premier League side in the first half, with both sides having good chances to open the scoring.
However, the only goal of the game came when Casemiro found Rashford 25 meters out, and the England international hit a powerful swerving shot with the outside of his boot to leave Betis keeper Rui Silva helpless.
Manchester United are now unbeaten in their last seven away matches against Spanish sides, after knocking FC Barcelona out in the previous round.
Sevilla had some good news for Spanish sides as they scraped through on a nervous night in Turkey away to Fenerbahce to qualify 2-1 on aggregate.
Enner Valencia’s 41st-minute penalty gave Fenerbahce a 1-0 lead, but despite having 15 shots in the game, they were unable to find a second goal to take the tie to extra time after Sevilla’s 2-0 win last week.
Villarreal also crashed out of the UEFA Europa Conference League after losing 1-0 at home to Anderlecht who scored the only goal of the game in the 73rd minute thanks to Islam Slimani.
–IANS
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