Barcelona's newfound attacking verve vanished as the club was held to a 0-0 draw by Galatasaray at Camp Nou in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League. (More Football News)
Barcelona is having a miserable season but had shown signs of re꧒covery lately by winning four straight games in all competitions and scoring a combine༒d 14 goals in that stretch.
But playing in Europe's second-tier competition after failing to advance to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time since 2004, the Spanish giant couldn't c🌼ome closer to a goal than when Frenkie de Jong hit the post.
Barca now faces a tricky return leg in Turkey in the only competiti🙈on it still has a realistic chance of winnin♎g.
Barcelona is out of the𒀰 Copa del Rey༺ and trails Spanish league leader Real Madrid by 15 points.
Earlier, Moroccan forward Munir scored in the second half to give six-time Europa League champion Sevꩵilla a 1-0 win over West Ham.
Sevilla's experience proved th♎e difference against a team playing its first European knockout game in 40 years as the English side couldn't take its chances in an evenly balanced game at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, which wi꧟ll host the final in May.
In other games, Rangers beat Red Star Belgrade 3-0, Atalanta recover💦ed from a goal down to top Leverkusen 3-2, and 🅠Braga blanked Monaco 2-0.
Leipzig's meeting with Spartak Moscow was cancelled after all Russian clubs were expelled from international competit𒊎ions following that country's military invasion of Ukrai🎀ne. Leipzig directly qualified for the quarterfinals.
In the Europa ꧃Conference Leagu𒁃e, Jose Mourinho's Roma registered a 1-0 victory away at Dutch team Vitesse. Leicester secured a 2-0 home win over Rennes and Feyenoord rallied for a 5-2 victory at Partizan Belgrade.
Marseille, Bodø/Glimt, Sla🅷via Prague and PAOK also earned first-leg victories.
The second leg games are scheduled for March 17.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Barcelona dominated possession but struggled to create clear-cut chances and not even newly signed 𒀰striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could spark the attack when he c൩ame on as a substitute.
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui had to make a last-minute ܫchange to his lineup after Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic 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 s🎀everal other key players, including Diego Carlos and Papu Gómez.
Nikola Vlašic had West Ham's best chance 10 minutes into the game but his close-range header was saved by Sevilla goal♛keeper Yassine Bounou🍰.
After eliminating Borussia Dortmund, Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in a four-minute span early in the first half. Captain James Tavernier scored fꦜrom the penalty spot in the 11th and Alfredo Morelos doubled the advantage with a low shot.
Leon Balogun finished it of💎f with a header in the second half.
Ruslan Malin💟ovsky and Luis Muriel both scored in a two-minute span to spark Atalanta's comeback after Leverkusen took the lead though Charles Aránguiz. Muriel added his second after ▨halftime before Moussa Diaby pulled one back with a curling shot.
Bragaﷺ took the lead in the third minute through Abel Ruiz and substitute Vitor Oliveira added the second a minute from time.
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.
With Leicester striker Jamie Vardy out injured again, Marc Albrighton and substitute Kelechi Iheanacho netted a 🐻goal each to secure a 2-0 victory over R🍌ennes.
Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik converted from thꦓe spot and added one more on a rebound for Marseille to beat Basel 2-1.
After knocking out Scܫottish giant Celtic, Norwegian upstart Bodಌø/Glimt beat AZ Alkmaar 2-1 for its eighth straight home victory in Europe.
The highest-scorꦆing game of the night was in Eindhoven, where Copenhagen led 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 against PSV but had to s🎶ettle for a 4-4 draw.
Partizan led 2-1 after subst⭕itute Nemanja Jovic vol🔴leyed 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-h꧋alf goals on fast counters to spark a 4-1 home win over Austria's LASK. Also♉, PAOK defeated Gent 1-0.
