Barça, West Ham enter Europa QF

LONDON, March 18: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the winning goal for Barcelona to secure a 2-1 victory over Galatasaray on Thursday and send the struggling European powerhouse into the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
Fellow Spanish team Sevilla was knocked out of the competition it has won a record six times, losing to West Ham after Ukraine forward Andriy Yarmolenko scored the decisive goal in extra time. West Ham won 2-0 to advance 2-1 on aggregate, reaching the quarter-finals of a European competition for the first time since 1981.
Aubameyang netted from close range four minutes into the second half as Barcelona came from a goal down to maintain its chances of ending the season with a trophy.
The Spanish giant, which is playing Europe’s second-tier competition after failing to advance to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time since 2004, was held to a 0-0 draw at home by the Turkish club in the first leg last week.
Rangers reached the quarter-finals on a 4-2 aggregate score despite losing 2-1 to Red Star at Belgrade. Atalanta also advanced 4-2 on aggregate after winning 1-0 at Bayer Leverkusen while Portuguese club Braga progressed after holding Monaco 1-1.
Sevilla’s cross-city rival Betis was also eliminated by Eintracht Frankfurt in extra time.
Lyon beat Porto 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw at home.
Europ League
US defender Sergiño Dest limped off in the 56th minute after grabbing a hamstring.
Yarmolenko netted his second goal in five days after also scoring for West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday in his first appearance since Russia’s invasion of his homeland. The substitute was on hand to tap in a rebound after Pablo Fornals’ shot was parried into his path.
Czech Republic midfielder Tomáš Souček headed in the opening goal for West Ham.
Borja Iglesias scored in the final minute for Real Betis to force extra time at Frankfurt but Martin Hinteregger netted for Eintracht in the final seconds of extra time to send the German club through 3-2 on aggregate.
Midfielder Mirko Ivanić gave Red Star some hope with a first-half goal before Ryan Kent’s deflected shot found the back of the net to restore a three-goal aggregate advantage for Rangers.
El FardouBen Nabouhane gave Red Star the consolation win on the night by converting a penalty in injury time.
Braga held a 2-0 advantage after the first leg and Abel Ruiz stretched it to three in Monaco before Axel Disasi equalized in the final minute.
Substitute Jeremie Boga scored the lone goal in second-half stoppage time to secure Atalanta’s 1-0 win at Leverkusen.
Leipzig advanced automatically as its opponent Spartak Moscow was among Russian clubs expelled from international competitions following the country’s military invasion of Ukraine.
Europa Conference League
In the inaugural Europa Conference League, Leicester advanced 3-2 on aggregate despite a 2-1 away loss to Rennes.
Leicester, the only English team in the last 16, had a 2-0 lead over Rennes from the first leg but the French club’s midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud pulled a goal back early. Leicester defender Wesley Fofana headed in an equalizer off a corner kick in the second half in his first appearance of the season after seven months out with a broken leg. Substitute Flavien Tait put Rennes back ahead in the 78th but the French club was denied a crucial third goal when goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel pulled off a good save to stop Serhou Guirassy’s effort with five minutes left.
Jose Mourinho’s Roma needed an injury-time equalizer by England forward Tammy Abraham to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Vitesse and secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
Vitesse looked set to take Roma to extra time thanks to Maximilian Wittek’s goal in the 62nd, but Abraham netted his tournament-high seventh goal of the competition to take the Italian club through.
Of the four Dutch teams in the last 16, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord cruised into the quarterfinals while AZ Alkmaar and Vitesse were knocked out.
Marseille, PAOK, Bodø/Glimt and Slavia Prague also advanced. (AP)