Mesut Özil with FC Arsenal and Antonio Rüdiger with FC Chelsea are on their way to the semi-finals in the Europa League. Former World Champion Özil won with the Gunners against former Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti’s SSC Naples 2:0 (2:0), German international Rüdiger won with Arsenal’s city rivals against outsider Slavia Prague 1:0 (0:0).
In the Spanish duel FC Valencia won FC Villarreal 3:1 (1:1). The winner of the duel between Chelsea and Prague would be Eintracht Frankfurt, if the Hessians made it to the semi-finals against Benfica Lisbon.
Aaron Ramsey (15th) and Kalidou Koulibaly (25th) scored the goals for the Gunners, who were eliminated in last season’s semi-final against Atletico Madrid. Özil was in the Arsenal starting eleven and introduced a beautiful combination, which ultimately led to 1-0, with a pass.
In the return leg, however, the Londoners must defeat their weakness in the away game. In the last two laps, Bate Borissow and Stade Rennes were both defeated.
At Chelsea, Rüdiger was in central defence from the start as usual for the 2013 European League winners. Belgian midfield star Eden Hazard, on the other hand, sat on the bench and was substituted in the 59th minute.
In the first half, the visitors were superior, but could not convert this into goals. Rüdiger almost scored a goal after the break, but he failed with a volley shot (61st). Marcos Alonso (86th) scored the late winning goal.
In Villarreal, Goncalo Guedes took the lead with a penalty shot (6th), Daniel Parejo had previously failed against Andres Fernandez. Before the break, Santi Cazorla (36) also equalled the score with a penalty kick. Daniel Wass (90.+1) and again Guedes (90.+3) scored in injury time to win for the guests.
