Juventus qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday evening. The Italians won 0-2 against SC Freiburg, after they also won 1-0 at home last week. The goals came on Thursday in the name of Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa. At the same time, Sevilla also joined the last eight of the Europa League. Although it lost 1-0 to Fenerbahçe, it had already won 2-0 at home last week.
SC Freiburg – Juventus 0-2
The first chance of this game was for Freiburg, where Mark Flek was under the crossbar. Michael Gregoritsch’s header, however, was blocked by Juventus goalie Wojciech Szczesny. After playing for half an hour la Vecchia Signora on the other side of the field to open the score via Vlahovic, but the Serb turned out to be offside. Nevertheless, Juventus went into the break with a lead: Lukas Kübler took a bet from Federico Gatti off the line just before half-time, but it turned out that a handball from Manuel Gulde had preceded it. Referee Serdar Gözübüyük therefore gave Gulde his second yellow card and Juventus received a penalty. Vlahovic used it: 0-1.
In the second half, the greatest opportunities were for Freiburg. Gregoritsch’s free kick went just wide and Szczesny kept his team going after just under an hour of play. After a Freiburg free kick, the Polish goalkeeper first stopped Lucas Höler from scoring, after which Manuel Locatelli almost passed his own goalkeeper. However, Szczesny was able to prevent that. Also in the final phase, the ten of Freiburg continued to look for the equalizer, hoping to produce a second goal afterwards. However, Juventus held their ground, and Chiesa (who had hit the crossbar moments before) put an end to all uncertainty with a shot via the inside post.
Fenerbahce – Sevilla 1-0
Fenebahçe, with Ferdi Kadioglu and Jayden Oosterwolde in the starting line-up, knew it had to clear a 2-0 deficit and did its best in the first half to score the opening goal as quickly as possible. Michy Batshuayi’s shot went wide after five minutes, however, and Marko Dmitrovic saved Ismail Yüksek’s attempt. The Turks were awarded a penalty five minutes before the end. A cross from Kadioglu hit Alex Telles’ arm, after which the ball hit the spot after interference from the VAR. The golden opportunity was used by Enner Valencia: 1-0.
In the second half, Fenerbahçe went full on the hunt for the 2-0, and it had plenty of chances. Arda Güler (next), Joshua King (over and wide), Valencia (just wide and later save Dmitrovic), Miha Zajc (next) and Emre Mor (just wide) were all close to the second hit. At the other end of the field, Sevilla was somewhat dangerous once in the second act, but Marcos Acuña’s attempt was blocked by Altay Bayindir. However, the Spaniards held on, and therefore secured a place in the quarter-finals.