Only two of Spain’s four sides made it through the first knock-out stage, with Villarreal and Real Sociedad falling at the first hurdle on Thursday evening. Villarreal were looking to overturn a 3-1 first leg defeat at Olympique Lyon, but they were unable to get past visiting keeper Lopes, and with five minutes to go Traoré scored to make it 0-1 on the night. Later in the evening Real Sociedad lost 2-1 at Salzburg, the result leaving them a goal short of taking the tie into extra time. A Raúl Navas header cancelled out Dabbur’s opener, but Navas got himself sent off after the break, and Berisha wrapped things up from the penalty spot. Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao will be in tomorrow’s draw though, Atlético in particular cruising through comfortably with a 1-0 victory against Copenhagen to add to their first leg win. Gameiro got the only goal there early on. Athletic though had some problems despite a first leg 1-3 victory at Spartak Moscow, the Russian side winning 1-2 in the San Mamés stadium. Etxeita headed the only goal for the locals after Luiz Adriano had given the visitors the lead, but Melgarejo scored again for Spartak with five minutes to go to set up a nail-biting finish. The game was overshadowed though by the death of a local policeman during violent incidents between rival fans before kick-off. (22.02.18)