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Thursday saw the first leg of quarter-finals for both the Europa and Conference Leagues, with French teams Lyon drawing in London and Marseille settling for a 2-1 win on their home turf.
A second-half equaliser by Ferran Torres rescued Barcelona on Thursday as the Spanish giants were held to a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
Torres’ equaliser makes them favourites for the return leg at Camp Nou next Thursday.
“We put in a superb performance and didn’t allow them much in the entire 90 minutes,” said Frankfurt scorer Knauff. “It’s almost a bit annoying that we didn’t hold on for the win, but anything is possible for the second leg.”
A sell-out home crowd of 48,000 created a highly charged atmosphere, inspiring Frankfurt to create 18 shots on goal, to Barcelona’s seven.
Barcelona equalised when substitutes Ousmane Dembele and De Jong combined before the latter teed-up Torres to fire home.
Frankfurt were reduced to 10 men for the final 12 minutes when Tuta picked up a second booking after a mistimed challenge on Pedri.
“It was difficult to get a grip on the game, they defended well and didn’t give us much space,” admitted Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez.
“We were better in the second half, they attacked us on the counter and they had their chance. We will have our fans behind us for the return to hopefully put us in the semi-finals.”
Lyon draws with West Ham
Elsewhere, Jarrod Bowen scored as West Ham battled to a 1-1 draw at home to Lyon after Aaron Cresswell was sent off just before half-time for a foul on Moussa Dembele.
West Ham, playing in a European quarter-final for the first time in 41 years, went ahead in the 52nd minute when Bowen pounced on an error by Jerome Boateng.
Tanguy Ndombele, on loan from Tottenham, levelled for Lyon 14 minutes…
Source : france24
