Europa League: Barcelona drew 0-0 with Galatasaray in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 encounter at the Camp Nou on Thursday, while Rangers strolled to a 3-0 lead over Red Star Belgrade. For the first time since 2004, Xavi Hernandez’s Barca dominated for long spells in Europe’s second-tier league. Bafetimbi Gomis was denied a winner by a VAR decision for offside, but it was their Turkish opponents who almost took the lead ahead of the return match in Istanbul next week.
In his first appearance since December, Memphis Depay forced Galatasaray goalkeeper Inaki Pena into two excellent first-half stops.
Barcelona’s Jordi Alba, Ousmane Dembele, and Frenkie de Jong all came close in the second half, but the hosts were unable to score.
“It’s an awful feeling,” Xavi said to Movistar+. “Playing at home and dominating so much isn’t a good result.”
“Even if it’s the Europa League, this is Europe, and clubs are there on their own merits.”
Since losing to Bayern Munich in their final Champions League group game last year, Xavi’s team has gone 90 minutes without losing.
However, the Catalan giants will almost certainly need to win next Thursday to keep their hopes alive of winning the championship for the first time.
Rangers moved closer to reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since losing the UEFA Cup final to Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side followed up their sensational playoff round victory over Borussia Dortmund with another dominant first-leg performance at Ibrox against Red Star.
The host side took leadership after James Tavernier’s penalty and Alfredo Morelos’ 28th career goal in the tournament.
Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor saved a penalty from visiting midfielder Aleksandar Katai, who had two goals disallowed earlier.
Leon Balogun added a third six minutes after the break to put the Glasgow giants in complete control heading into the second leg.
“It’s an unbelievable achievement,” Rangers captain Tavernier told BT Sport. “We are only halfway there but the boys were brilliant.
“We really managed it well and we’ve put ourselves in a good position. We can’t be complacent, though and we’ll go in there like it’s 0-0.”
After a 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in Bergamo, Atalanta will travel to Germany with a lead. Luis Muriel scored twice.
Moussa Diaby of Leverkusen scored in the 63rd minute, his eighth goal in seven games, to keep the draw alive.
Abel Ruiz scored in the first minute as Braga defeated Monaco 2-0 in Portugal, while Munir El Haddadi scored the only goal as Sevilla defeated West Ham 1-0 at home in the early kick-off.
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