AC Milan draws Serie A rival Roma in Europa League quarterfinal

The Rossoneri will face a familiar foe in the Europa League last eight.

AC Milan will face a familiar foe in the Europa League quarterfinal.

The Rossoneri were paired with Serie A rival Roma in Friday’s draw, with both sides chasing their only chance at silverware this season.

Milan reached the last eight with a comprehensive 7-3 aggregate win over Slavia Prague, as Christian Pulisic scored in both legs of the tie. Roma, meanwhile, defeated Brighton 4-1 on aggregate in their last-16 matchup.

Milan will host the first leg on April 11 at San Siro, with the second leg taking place on April 18 in the Italian capital.

Roma and Milan have met once this season, with the Rossoneri winning 2-1 in Rome in a Serie A match back in September.

The winner of Milan’s tie with Roma will face either Bayer Leverkusen or West Ham in the semifinal.

The other semifinal will see the winner of Liverpool vs. Atalanta take on the winner of Benfica vs. Marseille.

2023-24 Europa League quarterfinal draw

AC Milan vs. Roma
Liverpool vs. Atalanta
Bayer Leverkusen vs. West Ham
Benfica vs. Marseille

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Europa League final referee, family abused by Roma fans at airport

Ugly scenes at the airport as Anthony Taylor attempted to leave Budapest

A Roma fan was arrested by Hungarian police after fans threatened Europa League final referee Anthony Taylor and his family at Budapest’s airport on Thursday.

The arrest comes one day after Roma fans spotted Taylor and his family about to board a flight home, with many loudly chanting at and mobbing the group. Security staff intervened, but not before video showed drinks and a chair being thrown in Taylor’s direction.

A statement from Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport and local police published by The Mirror said that “Anthony Taylor, the referee of the UEFA Europa League final, was involved in an incident at Ferenc Liszt International (Budapest) Airport yesterday evening. Fans of the losing Roma team recognized the referee in the food court of the airport, where he was waiting for his flight to depart,” before later adding that “the Italian citizen involved in the incident was apprehended by the police and criminal proceedings have been initiated on charges of affray.”

Fans react after Mourinho rage

Taylor was the referee for a contentious Europa League final that ended with Roma falling on penalty kicks to Sevilla. The match featured a record 14 yellow cards, and Roma manager Jose Mourinho focused most of his post-game remarks on criticizing Taylor, strongly implying a bias against the Roman side.

Mourinho then followed up his press conference tirade by waiting in the team bus parking lot to call Taylor a “f—–g crook” with enough vigor that a staffer was seen restraining him. Mourinho was, predictably, charged by UEFA for the whole episode.

While it’s easy to write that off as Mourinho being Mourinho — over the last few months alone, he’s called one of his own players a traitor, was sent off for yelling at referees in a loss to Cremonese, jeered children, and wore a wire while coaching — there’s a big difference between harsh words in a press conference or from the touchline compared to physically waiting around to accost a referee in a parking lot.

While there are failures of security involved in sending a referee of a big match to a public food court among fans of the defeated team, the general air around how the game was officiated could have been tamped down by Mourinho and others. Taking the step from disagreement with calls to accusations of outright bias creates an atmosphere where referees are pressured, intimidated, or outright put in danger.

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Mourinho waits in parking lot to tell referee he’s a ‘f—–g disgrace’

The Roma manager didn’t think he got enough face time with Anthony Taylor during the game

José Mourinho was not a fan of referee Anthony Taylor’s performance in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

The Roma manager said so in his post-game press conference after his side fell on penalties to Sevilla following a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest.

But that wasn’t enough for the Portuguese manager. Mourinho also wanted to again tell Taylor to his face how displeased he was. So he waited outside the Roma team bus to find the referee and tell him that his performance was a “f—–g disgrace” and that the Englishman and his fellow referees were “f—–g crooks.”

Mourinho goes off in press conference

Prior to the parking lot confrontation, Mourinho told the media exactly how he felt about Taylor and his crew.

“The referee seemed like he was Spanish,” Mourinho said. “The result was not fair, and there are a lot of instances to reexamine.”

Some of those instances included Taylor not giving Roma a penalty kick in the second half after an alleged handball, as well as the referee not sending Erik Lamela off for a second yellow card.

“This is a European final, and with this kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept. If we talk about refereeing situations, it’s not two or three: it is many, quite apart from the big decisions. Those of us who have been in football a long time realize immediately what is going on,” Mourinho said.

“[Lorenzo] Pellegrini falls in box and given a yellow card; [Lucas] Ocampos did exactly the same thing and he doesn’t get one. It’s a scandal. VAR called the referee and shames Ocampos, but there’s no card given.

“Lamela — who, by the way, scored one of the penalties — deserved a second yellow but didn’t get it. And let’s not even talk about the big decisions. That’s just the small details.”

Taylor did award 14 yellow cards in the match, a new record for a Europa League final.

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No one loves anything like Sevilla loves the Europa League

Sevilla did what they do, winning the Europa League for a seventh time

Sevilla, as is seemingly always the case, won the Europa League, triumphing in a penalty kick shootout after a 1-1 extra time draw with Roma.

It’s Sevilla’s seventh Europa League title, by far the most of any club (even if you include winners from the tournament’s former life as the UEFA Cup). Remarkably, all of those triumphs have come since 2006, and represent over half of the club’s major trophies.

It also makes clear which unusual phenomenon, between Sevilla’s invincibility in the Europa League and Jose Mourinho’s perfect record in European finals, is more powerful. Mourinho had won all five of his previous finals, winning in this competition, the Champions League, and even the Europa Conference League. Until Wednesday, Mourinho’s sides hadn’t even given up a goal in a final since the 2002-03 UEFA Cup.

However, Sevilla’s astounding history in the Europa League continued after an own goal got the Spanish side level in a dour, attritional final. Sevilla survived a Chris Smalling header that clipped the bar in the 11th minute of stoppage time in extra time, before showing more nerve in a penalty kick tiebreaker.

Roma — who have been less than stellar from the spot during the 2022-23 season — had to watch Sevilla go four-for-four in the shootout, while Gianluca Mancini and Roger Ibañez saw their shots saved by Yassine Bounou.

The reactions, predictably, were over the top.

Ten Hag beside himself after Manchester United’s Europa League debacle

“It’s clear: We make such mistakes, it’s very difficult to win a football game”

Erik ten Hag could barely constrain his frustration after Manchester United fumbled their way out of the Europa League.

An error-strewn performance saw ten Hag’s side concede two calamitous goals on turnovers, as well as a soft set piece goal, en route to a 3-0 second leg loss at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Sevilla, as a result, is through to the Europa Leagues semifinals on a 5-2 aggregate win after having fallen behind 2-0 in the first leg.

This same opponent has ended Man Utd’s European dreams three times in the last six seasons, with this victory joining similar triumphs in the 2017-18 Champions League round of 16 and the 2019-20 Europa League semifinals.

Speaking to BT Sport after the match, ten Hag let out a sign before saying that he felt like the cause of their downfall was obvious. “It’s clear,” said ten Hag. “We make such mistakes, it’s very difficult to win a football game.”

Brushing off the chance to use the raucous atmosphere as an excuse, ten Hag asserted that a loud opposing fan base isn’t an explanation for his side’s meltdown. “[I] expect that we can deal with it. So I won’t say that’s an explanation for it. We have to do better. That is the demand.”

The Red Devils fell behind in the eighth minute as David de Gea’s iffy pass to Harry Maguire was made much worse by the England center back. Maguire’s attempt to spray the ball wide thumped into Érik Lamela, and Youssef En-Nesyri immediately pounced to side-foot past de Gea.

“You have seen what I have seen,” seethed ten Hag when asked about the shaky start. “We were not composed. We were not calm. Once you beat [Sevilla’s] press, huge spaces on the pitch, but we didn’t do it at the start, and it was so obvious how to do it.”

The poor first half could have been worse, with VAR spotting that Marcos Acuña was narrowly offside before sending in a cross that eventually ended with Lucas Ocampos firing past de Gea. Again, it was a play that started with careless play: Casemiro’s pass out to Aaron Wan-Bissaka was misplaced badly enough that Acuña could make an interception deep in Man Utd’s half.

For ten Hag, Man Utd’s mistakes were compounded by being out-fought by Sevilla.

“Bad decisions, and then also, we lose the battles. They had more passion and more desire, more willingness,” said ten Hag. “So then, it’s difficult to win big football games.”

That was likely on ten Hag’s mind when thinking of the second goal, as Loïc Badé simply beat Casemiro to a corner, using his shoulder to guide the ball over de Gea, off the bar, and just over the line.

Summing up a bumbling display by just about everyone in red on the night, de Gea completely mis-controlled a hopeless long ball, turning an easy situation into a brace for En-Nesyri. Any chance of a Man Utd comeback was completely dead and buried.

Man Utd were without several key players, with Raphaël Varane and Lisandro Martínez both suffering injuries in the first leg and Bruno Fernandes suspended. Maguire and Victor Lindelöf stepped in as the center back duo, while Marcel Sabitzer replaced the influential Portuguese playmaker.

Still, ten Hag refused to point in the direction of his absent starters, reiterating that the team on the field just didn’t deliver.

“It’s about the players who are on the pitch. They have to perform,” stated ten Hag. “I believe in them, I trust them and then they have to show. But today, we were not good enough.

“We showed so many occasions [with] good performance and good things, but tonight — and also we had some occasions [like this] — we were not ready for the game. And it can’t be when you are on this level, when you’re playing for Manchester United. You have to be ready for every game. This is a great opportunity. This is a great occasion, a quarterfinal in Europe, to win something, and then you give it away. So, we have to blame ourselves.”

Watch ten Hag go off after Man United’s poor showing

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Dutch federation to abandon matches over fan trouble after Klaassen struck by lighter

It’s been an ugly year in the stands for Dutch soccer

The KNVB has had it with unruly supporters.

The Dutch soccer federation had to face down yet another example of terrible fan behavior after Davy Klaassen was left bleeding after being hit by a lighter thrown by a Feyenoord supporter in Ajax’s 2-1 KNVB Cup semifinal win on Wednesday. Klaassen initially tried to play on after the incident, but eventually asked for a substitution.

The BBC reported that Dutch police had arrested a man in connection to the incident, along with 21 other fans who attended a match that had already been marred by anti-Semitic chants and smoke bombs that delayed kickoff at De Kuip.

For the federation, this latest incident was apparently a red line. The KNVB issued a statement on Thursday announcing new guidelines for referees to deal with crowd trouble at Dutch matches. In essence, the guidelines will make it much more likely that referees abandon matches should conditions become unsafe.

“With these steps, potential perpetrators will hopefully no longer dream of attacking the main players on the field,” read the KNVB statement. “We’re done with that.”

The new regulations specifically address objects being thrown on the field, and supporters entering the field. For objects, whether they’re as dangerous as the lighter that hit Klaassen or not, the KNVB says referees must stop play and direct the teams off the pitch for a spell.

If play resumes and more objects are thrown onto the field, referees are to abandon the game immediately. That’s also what they’re to do if an object strikes a player, even if it’s the first object thrown from the stands.

With supporters entering the field, the rules are the same. One fan coming onto the pitch means stopping the game temporarily, while a second means abandoning the match. If, as happened when a PSV fan tried to punch Sevilla’s Marko Dmitrović in the Europa League, a supporter attempts to attack a player, the match will be abandoned on the spot.

KNVB not alone in taking action

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte decried the Klaassen incident as “intolerable,” with a government investigation apparently being considered. For their part, Feyenoord said they will close the section of De Kuip that the lighter was thrown from for their Europa League quarterfinal against Roma on April 13.

The situation over that match was already tense. Per Reuters, Italian authorities had banned Dutch fans from attending the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico over damage done to the historic Fontana della Barcaccia when Feyenoord last faced Roma back in 2015. UEFA issued a corresponding edict to ban Italian fans from attending the first leg at De Kuip.

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Sporting’s 46-yard goal, penalties sink Arsenal in Europa League

Pedro Gonçalves’ golazo ended Arsenal’s dreams in Europe

Arsenal is out of the Europa League, with Sporting Clube shocking the Premier League leaders on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate finish to their round of 16 tie.

Granit Xhaka gave the Gunners a first-half lead at the Emirates Stadium, but a Pedro Gonçalves goal from 46 yards brought the Lisbon club back to equal footing in the 62nd minute.

Sporting — who finished with 10 men after Manuel Ugarte’s late second yellow card — held on for dear life in extra time, with Leandro Trossard hitting the post on a breakaway.

In the penalty kick tiebreaker, Aaron Ramsdale was close on two different Sporting attempts, but Antonio Adán’s save on Gabriel Martinelli was all the difference, with Sporting advancing 5-3 on penalties.

Wait, hold on a second. We may have passed over something a bit too quickly. A goal from 46 yards?

Well, yes. Paulinho and Jorginho clashed over a loose ball at midfield, where Gonçalves pounced to take control. Left with the space left open by Jorginho stepping up, Gonçalves took a touch, and spotted Ramsdale’s positioning: well off his line, as is appropriate when your team is pushed up high.

Ramsdale read Gonçalves’ intentions and began backpedaling, but it was too late. The Sporting playmaker only had eyes for goal, launching a shot from what UEFA later said was 46 yards out over the England goalkeeper.

It didn’t determine the outcome, but it was the moment of magic Sporting needed to get a goal that otherwise might never have arrived.

Enjoy (or if you’re an Arsenal fan, hate-read) how the internet reacted to Gonçalves’ incredible strike.

Juventus drops Pogba for Freiburg Europa League clash

Pogba’s return to Juve continues to be a rough one

Paul Pogba’s return to Juventus has been rocky to say the least.

The latest chapter has seen Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri opting to drop the France midfielder for Thursday’s Europa League first leg against Freiburg.

Reports from Italy claim that Pogba was late for a team meeting, and Allegri has opted to leave him out of his gameday squad as Juve hosts the Europa League’s defending champions.

Given the status of Juventus’ 2022-23 season — they’ve been docked 15 points in Serie A due to transfer accounting discrepancies — the Europa League is a far more appealing path to any sort of glory this season. La Vecchia Signora is 12 points away from qualifying for the Champions League through the league, and seven points from claiming a Europa League spot.

As such, the decision to drop Pogba for possibly the most crucial game Juve has left this season will likely result in plenty of scrutiny, particularly if things go awry against Freiburg at the Allianz Stadium.

Pogba’s troubled Juve return

It’s not clear that Pogba would have been available to start if he had been included, as his return to Turin has been hit by near-constant injury problems.

Pogba signed a four-year deal with Juve in July, but has been trapped in a cruel cycle of injury setbacks dating back to the end of his time with Manchester United. Pogba missed the final weeks of the Premier League season with a calf strain, and then after joining Juventus, he suffered a meniscus injury in preseason training.

Pogba initially opted to avoid surgery that would have likely made a World Cup trip with France impossible, but ended up having to undergo the procedure anyway. It briefly appeared that things would work out, especially when the star midfielder returned to training in September. However, before he could build up enough fitness to play in any matches, a thigh muscle problem ended his World Cup hopes.

Pogba made his return to training in January, but the long layoff likely contributed to another muscular issue, and his first appearance in a match since returning to Juventus didn’t come until February 28’s 4-2 win over Torino.

Pogba followed that 22-minute substitute appearance with a 14-minute cameo in Juve’s 1-0 loss at Roma, and was likely to factor in against Freiburg in a similar role. It remains to be seen whether his absence will be felt against a team that, after conceding 11 times in two road matches in the Bundesliga last month, has shut their hosts out in three straight away fixtures.

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Goalkeeper-punching fan sentenced to two months in jail

If you run on the field and attack a player, you will probably end up in jail

The PSV fan who ran on the field and attacked Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović during a game last month has been handed a two-month jail sentence.

In the middle of PSV’s Europa League match at home against Sevilla, the 20-year-old man ran onto the Philips Stadium pitch and made a beeline for the Serbia international keeper.

Video footage showed the man throw a punch at Dmitrović, who then wrestled him to the ground and restrained him before security intervened.

In not-so-stunning news, the fan had 1. A prior history of soccer-related offenses, and was 2. Drunk.

“The suspect not only violated a stadium and area ban, he also went onto the field in a drunken state to assault a soccer player,” the East Brabant District Court said. “This is completely disrespectful to the victim, the soccer clubs and all true supporters of PSV. In addition, the suspect was convicted twice in 2021 for soccer-related offenses.”

The court said the fan had already been banned from the area around Philips Stadium, and had a friend buy a ticket to the game for him.

UEFA has also opened a disciplinary case into PSV, with the Dutch club expected to receive some form of punishment.

“If someone attacks me, I’m going to defend myself. I think he brushed against me, he couldn’t hit me,” Dmitrović said after the incident. “I managed to beat him. I was on the ground for a long time until security came.”

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Even if your team loses, don’t punch Marko Dmitrovic

Punching the goalkeeper is a Soccer Don’t

When you go to a soccer game, there are things you should do: sing a song, talk with friends, marvel at the amazing things people can do while kicking a ball around.

One thing you should not do, though, is go on the field after your team loses to punch a goalkeeper (or anyone else).

One PSV fan seemingly did not know that important Soccer Don’t, as a supporter ran onto the field at Phillips Stadion to attack Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović after the Spanish side held on to a 3-2 Europa League aggregate win.

The lone fan was seen on video from the stands approaching to shove Dmitrović from behind. The fan then threw a punch after Serbia’s deputy goalkeeper seemed to more or less be asking what the problem was.

Dmitrović, to his immense credit, managed to calmly get the man on the ground and hold him there — eventually with players from both teams helping out — before stadium security hauled the fan away.

Following the game — and in a sterling example of understatement — Dmitrović told Tiempo de Juego that he was “surprised” by what had happened.

“If someone attacks me, I’m going to defend myself. I think he brushed against me, he couldn’t hit me,” said the 6-foot-4 Dmitrović. “I managed to beat him. I was on the ground for a long time until security came.”

In fact, before security arrived, the first people that showed up to help Dmitrović were PSV players, and eventually just about every Sevilla player converged as well. Dmitrović appeared to be no worse for wear, and will presumably be excited to find out who Sevilla will face in the quarterfinal.

High drama at Phillips Stadion

The match itself was more than a little dramatic. Sevilla won the first leg 3-0, and got within 15 minutes of a straightforward victory in a competition that they have long thrived in.

However, Luuk de Jong’s 77th minute goal gave PSV a glimmer of hope, and a Fábio Silva finish amid a scrum five minutes into stoppage time set up a possible grandstand finish. However, with PSV protesting for one more set piece opportunity, referee Daniele Orsato blew for full time. Mauro Júnior was sent off in the chaos, but little did anyone know, things were boiling over down at the other end of the field.

And now, unfortunately for that fan, there are some photos that make him look foolish.

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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