© EuroFootball.com
UEFA Europa League quarter-final matches began on Thursday with Eastern European teams in action. The famous opponents from the West were not surpassed by Romanian clubs "Rapid" and "Steaua" nor by the Bulgarian "Levski", while the "Zenit" club won in France and became the only team to win away - five out of eight matches ended in victories for the hosts.
In Bucharest, the local "Rapid" fought for an impressive victory against "Bayern", who had defeated "Hamburger" at their own stadium over the weekend, but the Romanian team did not hesitate to defeat the weaker opponent - Daniel Niculae gave his team the lead at the end of the first half, while Mugurelis Buga added a second goal for the Germans at the end of the game.
Another Bucharest team, the legendary "Steaua", also played at home against Sevilla's "Betis", who had played in the Champions League this season. Although both teams had plenty of chances to score, the match ended goalless, so the winner of the tie will be decided in the return leg in Spain.
The "Udinese", who have recently shown poor form, also failed to score at home against Sofia's "Levski" - the Bulgarians secured a goalless draw and will try to win at home, while in one of the most interesting ties, Gelzenkirchen's "Schalke" had to admit defeat to "Palermo" in Sicily. The Italians scored a winning goal through Franco Brienza at the start of the first half.
"Roma" suffered their first defeat after a long break, as they were forced to surrender at home to "Middlesbrough" after Yakubu's only goal from the penalty spot, while French side "Lille" beat "Sevilla" at home after an unusual goal from Geoffrey Dernis straight from a corner.
Two other French teams experienced failures - the "Strasbourg" side, which is currently an outsider in the country's league, lost 2-0 away to "Basel" in Switzerland and let the Swiss team take revenge for their defeat in the group stage, while "Marseille" surprisingly had to acknowledge the superiority of St. Petersburg's "Zenit" at home.
Results of the first quarter-final matches
Bucharest's "Rapid" 2 - 0 "Hamburger" 45` [1 - 0] Daniel Gheorghe Niculae 88` [2 - 0] Mugurel Mihai Buga 67` Nigel de Jong ("Hamburger"), 90` Vasil Maftei ("Rapid") sent off
"Palermo" 1 - 0 Gelzenkirchen's "Schalke" 15` [1 - 0] Franco Brienza
Bucharest's "Steaua" 0 - 0 Sevilla's "Betis"
"Lille" 1 - 0 "Sevilla" 24` [1 - 0] Geoffrey Dernis
"Basel" 2 - 0 "Strasbourg" 8` [1 - 0] Matias Emilio Delgado 89` [2 - 0] Zdravko Kuzmanovic
"Marseille" 0 - 1 St. Petersburg's "Zenit" 51` [0 - 1] Andrey Arshavin 70` Franck Ribery ("Marseille") sent off R.Poškus ("Zenit") played from the 90th minute
"Udinese" 0 - 0 Sofia's "Levski"
"Middlesbrough" 1 - 0 "Roma" 12` [1 - 0] Yakubu Ayegbeni (11m.)
