FEYENOORD REACHED the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw at 10-man AC Milan which took them past the seven-time kings of Europe 2-1 on aggregate.
Julian Carranza thumped home the pivotal header in the 73rd minute at a frigid San Siro, cancelling out Santiago Gimenez’s first-minute opener for Milan and sending the Dutch through to meet either Inter Milan or Arsenal.
Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as a substitute as the away side pushed to reach the next round, while Milan struggled following Theo Hernandez’s sending off early in the second half.
Already on a booking for a needless foul on Anis Hadj-Moussa just before half-time, Hernandez was ruled by referee Szymon Marciniak to have dived in the penalty box when under pressure from Givairo Read.
The France full-back was dismissed, leaving Milan on the back foot after having dominated up to that point.
Hernandez’s sending-off and Carranza’s tie-winning header ruined what looked to be Gimenez’s night when he nodded home the opener against his old team after just 36 seconds.
Mexico forward Gimenez has already scored three times for Milan since signing from Feyenoord during the winter transfer window but his sixth goal in the Champions League this season was also his last.
Sergio Conceicao’s Milan are by no means assured of a spot in next year’s tournament as they sit seventh in Serie A, five points off the top four with a game in hand.
Elsewhere, teenage starlet Chemsdine Talbi scored twice as Club Brugge claimed a 3-1 victory away to Atalanta in Italy on Tuesday to win their Champions League play-off tie 5-2 on aggregate and advance to the last 16.
Talbi’s brace was followed by a superb Ferran Jutgla strike as the Belgians built on their 2-1 win at home in last week’s first leg and advanced to a tie against either Lille or Aston Villa in the next round.
Atalanta had 29 attempts on goal but were punished on the break by the Belgians and Ademola Lookman’s reply at the start of the second half was scant consolation.
Lookman also had a penalty saved while Atalanta captain Rafael Toloi was sent off late on, as last season’s Europa League winners bowed out of Europe.
It is a major surprise as Atalanta had finished ninth in the table in the league phase, just missing direct qualification for the last 16, while Club Brugge came 24th, taking the last spot in the play-offs.
The Belgians had claimed a surprising and highly controversial victory in last week’s first leg thanks to a disputed late penalty converted by Gustaf Nilsson.
Finally, Benfica snatched a nail-biting 3-3 draw against Monaco on Tuesday to reach the Champions League last 16 with a 4-3 aggregate victory in the play-off round.
Monaco twice led on the night and came close to forcing extra-time but Orkun Kokcu’s 84th minute equaliser helped Benfica scrape through in Lisbon, with Barcelona or Liverpool awaiting in the next round.
Kerem Akturkoglu put the hosts ahead against the run of play, with Takumi Minamino levelling for Monaco after 32 minutes.
Eliesse Ben Seghir fired the visitors ahead but Vangelis Pavlidis struck from the spot to keep the score tied on the night.
French youngster George Ilenikhena netted in the 81st minute for Monaco but Kokcu prodded home to send Benfica through.
UEFA Champions League results on Tuesday:
Knockout phase play-offs, second leg
Atalanta (ITA) 1 (Lookman 46) Club Brugge (BEL) 3 (Talbl 3, 27, Jutgla 45+3)
Club Brugge win 5-2 on aggregate
Bayern Munich 1 (Davies 90+4) Celtic (SCO) 1 (Kuhn 63)
Bayern Munich win 3-2 on aggregate
AC Milan (ITA) 1 (Gimenez 1) Feyenoord (NED) 1 (Carranza 73)
Feyenoord win 2-1 on aggregate
Benfica (POR) 3 (Akturkoglu 22, Pavlidis 76-pen, Kokcu 84) Monaco 3 (Minamino 32, Ben Seghir 51, Ilenikhena 81)
Benfica win 4-3 on aggregate
At least they’re getting consistent.
Crap. But consistent.
I got up early to watch that!!
We expect much better from Ireland given the quality of the players but it was a disappointing performance. They did the important thing and won, next week is going to be massive for Ireland, they have to win it otherwise they should pack up and go home, you can’t win a world cup if you can’t beat any of the big 3 southern hemisphere teams. I believe they can win it, if they find the form they showed against England at the 6 Nations but as of yet they haven’t raised to that level since!
Why don’t I believe you Brian?
D’arcy out, BOD to inside centre, Mc Fadden to Outside centre and Trimble to the wing (sorry Earlsy, your outta here as well) Kearney back in full back.
Performance today was dire. No excusing it, major improvement needed.
That was even more painful to watch than the Ireland soccer team and I can’t see where the improvement is going to come from.
‘work on bad aspects in the next week’, what in Gods name have you all been doing in the last 10 weeks!!