Europa League 2014/15 Winners and Losers from Round of 16
The UEFA Europa League is down to eight teams after the round of 16 concluded Thursday night.
Holders Sevilla marched on, defeating Spanish rivals Villarreal comfortably over two legs. Elsewhere, Wolfsburg impressed again, Dynamo Kiev embarrassed Everton, and the Premier League's European demise reached new depths.
Rounding out the eight quarter-finalists were Napoli, Fiorentina, Zenit St. Petersburg, Dnipro and Club Brugge.
In this slideshow, we run down our list of winners and losers from Thursday's second legs.
Loser: Premier League
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Everton's 5-2 loss at Dynamo Kiev did more than seal a 6-4 aggregate defeat. It ensured that the Premier League will have no representatives in the quarter-finals of either the UEFA Champions League or Europa League—Europe's top two continental club competitions.
As noted by @OptaJoe, that hasn't happened since the 1992-93 season. And as ESPN's Dale Johnson pointed out, England's UEFA coefficient is at its lowest point since 2003-04. In other words, this season has been poor for English teams in Europe. And based on recent evidence, it's not clear when Premier League teams will catch up to their continental rivals.
Fans of the Premier League like to claim that theirs is the best league in the world. The results say otherwise.
Winner: Dynamo Kiev's Shooting Boots
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Dynamo Kiev routed Everton 5-2 on Thursday night, comfortably turning around a deficit from the first leg to win 6-4 on aggregate.
The home side's finishing was, in a word, superb.
Andriy Yarmolenko set the tone with the opener, a beautiful curling strike from well outside the box in the 21st minute. With the hosts ahead 2-1 late in the first half, Miguel Veloso netted his side's third with a well-taken volley.
But the pick of the bunch was Dynamo's fifth, which came from the boot of Vitorino Antunes. Holding possession 35 yards from goal, slightly left of centre, Antunes pounded an unstoppable drive past Tim Howard and into the top corner to cap off a deserved win.
See Antunes' strike here, as shown by @SI_Soccer.
Speaking to the club's official website after the match, Everton manager Roberto Martinez suggested Dynamo's finishing was the difference between the teams:
"A couple of times we made some defensive mistakes but there was also some incredible finishing from the opposition. Some of the goals, it would be difficult to see them again in the same game.
I don’t think it was a case of being in a position where we couldn’t impose ourselves. Once we scored the away goal I thought we would be stronger and tighter in our performance but it was the kind of night where everything they tried went into the back of the net. We always looked like a threat going forward and that we could score goals but the type of game it was, there were opportunities for both sides and our chances didn’t go in.
"
Everton's problems ran deeper than what Martinez would have you believe, but he was right to praise Dynamo's finishing.
Loser: Roberto Martinez
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Everton fully deserved its defeat against Dynamo Kiev. From the opening whistle, the Toffees defended poorly, giving their hosts more than enough chances to score the goals needed to advance.
Not that Dynamo's attacking was especially inventive. The Ukrainian side hit Everton repeatedly with route-one-style football in the first half. And it worked, with Everton's defenders in general and Antolin Alcaraz in particular unable to deal with high balls into the box.
Manager Roberto Martinez failed to make any changes—whether in personnel or tactics—at half-time, and Dynamo kept picking Everton apart in the second 45 minutes.
The reaction on Twitter was harsh. Calling Everton's defending a "shambles," football statistician Matt Cheetham noted the disparity between the team's defensive record under Martinez and former manager David Moyes: "12th time Everton have conceded 3+ goals (in 86 games) under Martinez. Did so 5 times in previous 86 games under Moyes."
BBC Sport's Phil McNulty also had some cutting words, tweeting: "Sadly that was amateur hour—or 90 minutes—from Everton tonight. Whole coop of chickens coming home to roost there."
Winner: Napoli
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Napoli advanced to the quarter-finals following a scoreless draw at Dinamo Moscow, a result that sealed a 3-1 aggregate win for the Partenopei.
After starting the season in the Champions League play-offs, Napoli had higher aspirations for this campaign. But coach Rafa Benitez can take heart from a single fact, as shared by @Infostrada: The last time Napoli reached the quarter-finals of a European competition was 1988-89, the season they lifted the old UEFA Cup.
That year, the Partenopei's main man was a certain Diego Armando Maradona, and while this year's version does not have quite such a superstar, Napoli will be pleased that the omens are good.
Winner: Wolfsburg
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As defending champions, Sevilla might have reason to disagree, but after knocking out Inter Milan with relative ease, Wolfsburg are looking more and more like one of the favourites.
Carrying a 3-1 aggregate lead into the second leg, Wolfsburg weathered Inter's early pressure before going ahead through Daniel Caligiuri midway through the first half. The hosts drew level in the second half but never really looked like they'd make up the deficit, with Nicklas Bendtner finishing off a 2-1 victory on the night for Wolfsburg—and a creditable 5-2 aggregate win.
The results of this match won't surprise fans of the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg showed what they are capable of in beating Bayern Munich 4-1 in January. Dieter Hecking's side play attractive, exciting football, and in Kevin De Bruyne, the Wolves have a top-class playmaker who hands out assists by the hatful.
Wolfsburg have a real chance to make a deep run in this season's Europa League.
Loser: Rudi Garcia
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Roma crashed out of Europe at the hands of Serie A rivals Fiorentina, playing badly in a 3-0 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico. The home side were so poor, in fact, that the club's ultras, located in the Curva Sud, left the match in disgust before half-time, only to re-emerge in the second half to protest.
Their anger was entirely justified. The ugly scenes in the stands matched the product on the field, with Roma defending comically throughout the first half.
"Complete collapse," journalist Anthony Lopopolo tweeted, hinting that Roma manager Rudi Garcia should be held accountable. "Garcia better start packing his bags I think," tweeted Bleacher Report writer Andrew Gibney.
Fourteen points behind Juventus in Serie A, Roma have now crashed out of both the Coppa Italia and Europa League at the hands of Fiorentina. The season is slipping away, and Garcia could face an intense inquest.
