Better results in the Europa League on Thursday, with Atlético Madrid going through to the last 16 after beating Galatasaray 1-2. Diego Forlán got the winner in the last minute after Keita had equalised an earlier strike by Simao. Valencia are also through to the next round after a 3-0 victory over Club Brugge. Mata cancelled out the Belgian side's first leg lead with less than a minute gone, but it was not until extra time that two goals from Pablo Hernández settled it. Athletic Bilbao are out though after a 4-0 defeat at Anderlecht, and Villarreal are also eliminated after losing 4-1 at Wolfsburg.
Atlético Madrid made it through to the last 16 of the Europa League after beating Frank Rijkaard's Galatasaray in their own stadium. There was little action until Reyes hit the bar early in to the second half. A few minutes later Jurado headed on a long throw for Simao to open the scoring, but just three minutes later Keita got on the end of Turan's cross to head past Sergio Asenjo. The locals were left with ten men when Caner Erkin picked up a second booking, but even so the game appeared to be heading for extra time until Reyes slipped a pass through for Diego Forlán to curl a shot past his old team-mate Leo Franco. Atlético go on to play Sporting Lisbon in the next round.
Valencia are also through to the last sixteen after a 3-0 victory over Club Brugge, although they had to wait until extra time to wrap things up. Mata cancelled out the Belgian side's first leg lead with less than a minute gone after Miguel set him up, but despite dominating play from there on they were unable to beat an excellent Stijnen. César had to make two or three key saves himself as the visitors threatened close to the end of the 90 minutes, but in extra time Pablo Hernández settled it with two goals, the first after picking up an assist from Banega and the second after Joaquín put him through. Unai Emery's side have a tricky tie with Werder Bremen in the next round.
Athletic Bilbao were dumped unceremoniously out of the competition though after losing the second leg 4-0 at Anderlecht. Lukaku opened the scoring in only the fourth minute, and San José deflected a cross from the 16 year old forward in to his own net later in the first half. Juhasz bundled the ball in to the net from Legear's free kick just a couple of minutes after the restart, and Legear himself made it four with an impressive shot following a short free kick a few minutes later. Fortunately there was no repetition of the first leg scenes of violence between supporters, and the travelling Athletic fans applauded their opponents off the pitch at the end.
Villarreal's disappointing season continued after they too were knocked out of the tournament by Wolfsburg. The 2-2 draw from the first leg meant that they really needed a victory to go through, but with only a quarter of an hour on the clock they were already two down, Dzeko beating Diego López with an impressive shot and Angel putting through his own net. Capdevila headed one back, but before the half time whistle Gentner restored the two goal lead from Dzeko's cross, and after the restart Grafite scored his third of the tie to make sure of the result. (25.02.10) (25.02.10)