Barcelona, Mar 11 (AP) Barcelona’s aggressive style has vanished after Galatasaray held the club to a 0-0 draw at Camp Nou in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16.
Barcelona have had a poor season but recently showed signs of recovery, winning four straight games in all competitions and scoring a combined 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 giants could not come close to a goal when Frankie de Jong hit the post.
Barca now face a difficult comeback in the only competition in Turkey, which still has a real chance of winning.
Barcelona are out of the Copa del Rey and 15 points behind Spanish league leaders Real Madrid.
Earlier, Moroccan forward Munir scored in the second half to give six-time Europa League champions Sevilla a 1-0 win over West Ham.
Sevilla’s experience proved the difference against a team playing their first European knockout game in 40 years as English side Ramon Sánchez could not take their chances in an equally balanced game at the Pizjuan Stadium, which will host the final in May.
In other games, Rangers beat Red Star Belgrade 3–0, Atalanta beat Leverkusen 3–2 down a goal, and Braga beat Monaco 2–0.
Leipzig’s meeting with Spartak Moscow was canceled after all Russian clubs were expelled from international competitions following that country’s military invasion of Ukraine. Leipzig directly qualified for the quarterfinals.
In the Europa Conference League, Jose Mourinho’s Roma registered a 1–0 win over Dutch team Vitesse. Leicester won a 2–0 home win over Rennes and Feyenoord won 5–2 at Partizan Belgrade.
Marseille, Bodo/Glimt, Slavia Prague and PAOK also won the first leg.
The second leg of the games is to be held on March 17.
Europa League Barcelona held on but struggled to create clear chances and even newly signed striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could not open the attack when he came on as a substitute.
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui had to make last-minute changes to his lineup after Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic was injured during the warm-up. He was replaced by Munir, and the change paid off when the Moroccan forward halved the winning half of West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Arriola at the stroke of the hour.
Former Manchester United forward Anthony Martial was off the bench for Sevilla on his return from injury, but the Spanish side were without several other key players, including Diego Carlos and Papu Gomez.
Nikola Vlasic had West Ham’s best chance at 10 minutes into the game, but his close header was saved by Sevilla goalkeeper Yasin Baunou.
After eliminating Borussia Dortmund, Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the space of four minutes at the start of the first half. Captain James Tavernier scored from the penalty spot in the 11th and Alfredo Morelos doubled the advantage with a short shot.
Leon Balogun ended it with a header in the second half.
Ruslan Malinowski and Luis Muriel both opened Atalanta’s comebacks in the space of two minutes as Leverkusen took the lead under Charles Aranguez. Muriel added his second after halftime, before Moussa Diaby pulled one back with a curling shot.
Braga took the lead in the third minute through Abel Ruiz and substitute Vitor Oliveira added a second one minute from time.
Two matches were played on Wednesday, with Lyon winning 1-0 in Porto and Eintracht Frankfurt in Spain beating Real Betis 2-1.
Europa Conference League Sergio Oliveira scored in the first half injury time for Roma.
With Leicester striker Jamie Vardy injured again, Mark Albrighton and substitute Kelechi Ihenacho scored a goal each to seal a 2–0 win over Rennes.
Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik converted from the spot and added another on a rebound for Marseille to beat Basel 2-1.
After defeating Scottish giants Celtic, Norwegian upstart Bodo/Glimt beat AZ Alkmaar 2–1 for their eighth straight home win in Europe.
The highest-scoring game of the night was in Eindhoven, where Copenhagen took a 1–0, 3–1 and 4–3 lead against PSV, but had to be content with a 4–4 draw.
Partizan took a 2–1 lead after substitute Nemanja Jovic volleyed 40 seconds into the second half, but Feyenoord scored four unanswered goals to take a massive lead for the second leg.
Slavia Prague’s Yara Sr scored two goals in the first half on sharp counters to seal Austria’s 4-1 home win over LASK. Also PAOK beat Gent 1-0. (AP) APA APA
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by ABP Live staff. Produced via a news agency feed)