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RB Leipzig will take a one-goal lead to the Stade Velodrome after edging the first-leg of their Europa League clash with Marseille. Timo Werner struck the only goal of an entertaining first leg to hand RB Leipzig a narrow advantage over Marseille in their Europa League quarter-final. The Germany international finished off a sweeping Leipzig move on the stroke of half-time, meaning Ralph Hasenhuttl's men will take a slender lead to the Stade Velodrome in a week's time. Marseille will approach the second leg with optimism, however, after an enterprising display that was spoiled only by some wayward finishing. Lucas Ocampos was particularly profligate, marring a fine individual performance, although Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi deserved credit for a string of saves that preserved a clean sheet. The home side enjoyed the lion's share of possession in a first half initially short on goalmouth incident, yet Marseille created the better of the opportunities. Gulac...

Koke and Antoine Griezmann scored first-half goals to lead Atletico Madrid to a handy first-leg advantage against a generous Sporting CP. Koke scored Atletico Madrid's quickest ever Europa League goal after just 22 seconds in an accomplished 2-0 quarter-final first-leg win over a sloppy Sporting CP at Wanda Metropolitano on Thursday. The Spain midfielder punished Sebastian Coates' error to net the opener immediately after kick-off, setting the hosts on their way to a fifth successive victory in this year's competition. In truth, it was made it easy for Diego Simeone's side, Jeremy Mathieu gifting Atleti a second, Antoine Griezmann's fourth goal in as many club outings arriving late in the first half. The Portuguese outfit created occasional opportunities to snatch a handy away goal – substitute Fredy Montero notably blazing over at the death - but while both teams finished third in their respective Champions League groups, there was a clear gulf in qualit...

Lazio bounced back from a controversial penalty decision against RB Salzburg to take pole position for a Europa League semi-final berth. Late goals from Felipe Anderson and Ciro Immobile helped Lazio to a pulsating 4-2 win over Red Bull Salzburg in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final at the Stadio Olimpico. In a game played at a frenetic pace, it was the hosts who struck first with Senad Lulic slotting home from close range inside the opening 10 minutes. Marco Rose's side then controversially pulled level on the half-hour through Valon Berisha's penalty, given after Dusan Basta had been punished for the softest of challenges. Perhaps fuelled by the perceived injustice of that penalty, the Italian side started the second half in dominant fashion and restored their lead after 49 minutes through Marco Parolo's wonderful back-flick finish. Substitute Takumi Minamino looked to have secured a draw on the night for the visitors with a calm finish after ...

The French striker scored a brace to further increase his confidence as the Gunners' hopes of winning the Europa League were boosted When you arrive at a club for big money the expectations are equally as weighty and no-one knows that better than Alexandre Lacazette. The France international joined Arsenal from Lyon last summer for a then club record fee of £46.5million, but hasn’t produced as many goalscoring moments as Arsene Wenger would have liked over the past few months – but his past two games have showed that he is more than capable of leading the Gunners to Europa League glory, following an impressive brace and performance against CSKA Moscow. Lacazette went nine games without scoring in January before undergoing knee surgery weeks later which kept him on the sidelines for over a month. Despite a goal on his debut against Leicester at the start of the season, the 26-year-old hasn’t replicated the kind of form he was known for with Lyon where he earned the nicknam...