Atalanta's Turkish defender Merih Demiral goes over Leipzig's Swedish midfielder Emil Forsberg during the UEFA Europa League quarter-final, first-leg football match. The teams tied 1-1 in Leipzig on April 7, 2022.RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images
Barcelona failed to win an away match in the Europa League for the first time after it was held 1-1 by 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Ferran Torres salvaged the draw in the second-tier European competition with an equalizer after a series of fluent passes around the box in the 66th minute.
Barcelona was knocked out of the lucrative Champions League in the team’s first post-Lionel Messi season. It is playing for the first time in the Europa League and never won its precursor, the UEFA Cup, reaching the semi-finals on four occasions but not getting to a final.
Frankfurt won the UEFA Cup in 1980.
Rebuilding under recently hired coach Xavi Hernandez, Barcelona has relied on big away performances to get to the last eight, beating Napoli (4-2) and Galatasaray (2-1) on the road after first-leg home draws.
In other games, 10-man West Ham also drew 1-1 with Lyon. The Hammers reached the quarter-finals of a European competition for the first time since 1981 after eliminating six-time champion Sevilla.
Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso saved a penalty and a follow-up attempt but he couldn’t keep out an own-goal by Davide Zappacosta from the resulting corner as Leipzig salvaged a 1-1 draw.
Also, Braga beat Rangers 1-0.
In the Europa Conference League, Roma, one of the favourites to win UEFA’s new third-tier competition, failed to get its revenge at Bod/Glimt and lost 2-1. The Norwegian club routed Roma 6-1 in the group stage for Jose Mourinho’s biggest loss as a coach. Bod/Glimt also earned a draw in the return match in Italy, and has eliminated Celtic and AZ Alkmaar in the knockout stage.
Also, Leicester was held 0-0 at home by PSV Eindhoven, Marseille beat PAOK Thessaloniki 2-1 and Slavia Prague earned a 3-3 draw at Feyenoord.