FC Barcelona were held 0-0 at home by Galatasaray in a Europa League match and were particularly frustrated by visiting goalkeeper Iñaki Peña, who is their player on loan at the Turkish side.
Frenkie de Jong did hit the post for the hosts but they also had a let-off as Bafétimbi Gomis had a potential winner disallowed.
- Fani-Kayode’s estranged wife arraigned over alleged cybercrime
- The pandemic undid the global strides towards gender equality
“You need to play well as a team,” Galatasaray midfielder Sofiane Feghouli said. “We did that tonight. Now we will rest first and then focus on the return leg in İstanbul.”
There were goals aplenty in contrast in Bergamo.
This was where Atalanta overturned Charles Aranguiz’s early opener for Bayer Leverkusen with a quick-fire blast from Ruslan Malinovskyi and Luis Muriel before the break.
Muriel added a third straight after the restart but a fine solo finish from Moussia Diaby made the final score 3-2.
It is now all to play for in Germany even in the absence of the away goals which was scrapped this season.
“I don’t think we had a great game, but in some moments we managed to make the most of the space they gave us,” Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah said.
The other Bundesliga side in the competition, RB Leipzig, are already in the quarter-finals as opponents Spartak Moscow have been banned from European matches following the invasion of Ukraine.
Rangers won an extraordinary game in Glasgow 3-0 over Red Star Belgrade.
It was a game in which the visitors had three goals disallowed, all correctly, for marginal offsides and also missed a penalty kick.
In the other match of the night, Braga defeated Monaco 2-0. (dpa/NAN)