Inter, Man Utd, Copenhagen, Shakhtar advance to EL quarters

Sports Desk, Aug 5 (efe-epa).- Inter Milan, Manchester United, Copenhagen and Shakhtar Donetsk won spots in the Europa League quarterfinals Wednesday as Europe’s second-tier club competition resumed nearly five months after play was suspended due to Covid-19.

Because the pandemic halt pre-empted the first leg between Inter and Getafe, their tie became a one-game elimination.

The Nerazzurri took the lead in the 33rd minute, when Romelu Lukaku, practically invisible to that point, took a long pass from Alessandro Bastoni and notched his 30th goal of the campaign for Inter.

Getafe got a chance to pull level with 15 minutes left after the referee awarded a penalty for an inadvertent hand ball in the box by Diego Godin.

Jorge Molina took the kick and sent the ball wide.

Christian Eriksen added a second goal for Inter in stoppage time to make the final 2-0 and the Italian side will face the winner of the Bayer Leverkusen-Rangers tie.

United, leading Austria’s LASK 5-0 after the first leg, fell behind Wednesday in the 55th minute on a goal by Philipp Wiesinger, but Jesse Lingard equalized for the Red Devils two minutes later with an assist from Juan Mata.

The Spaniard also contributed to Anthony Martial’s goal in the 88th minute to make it 2-1 for United on the night and 7-1 on aggregate.

The Manchester side’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be Copenhagen, who lost 1-0 to Basaksehir in the first leg at Istanbul, but blanked the Turkish champions 3-0 in the Danish capital on Wednesday to go through.

Jonas Wind put the hosts ahead in the 4th minute and doubled the advantage in the 52nd, converting from the spot after Mehmet Topal was cited for hand ball. Rasmus Falk Jensen scored 10 minutes later to extend Copenhagen’s lead to 3-0.

Shakhtar led Wolfsburg 2-1 after the first leg 145 days ago and added three more goals in the final minutes on Wednesday for a 5-1 aggregate triumph.

The Ukrainian squad went down to 10 men in the 67th minute with the expulsion of Davit Khocholava on a straight red card. But Wolfsburg’s man advantage lasted only until John Brooks was sent off three minutes later after he picked up a second yellow.

Junior Moraes had a brace, scoring in the 89th and the 93rd minutes, and Manor Solomon had a goal in the 91st. EFE

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