Barcelona is held by Galatasaray in the Europa League

Barcelona lost to a goalless draw against Galatasaray at the Camp Nou in the Europa League last-16 first leg on Thursday, as Rangers enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 lead in their match in the final against Red Star Belgrade. 

Xavi Hernandez’s Barca playing in Europe’s second-tier competition only the second time in 2004 was dominant for long periods. 

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However, the Turkish opponents, who nearly took advantage of the game’s return at Istanbul next week, and Bafetimbi Gomis denied a winner due to a VAR review of offside.

Memphis Depay, who made his first appearance since December, forced Galatasaray Goalkeeper Inaki Pena into two great first-half saves.

Jordi Alba, Ousmane Dembele, and Frenkie de Jong all came to within a few yards in the final half for Barcelona However, the hosts were unable to find an opening.

“The feeling is bad,” Xavi confessed in a video interview with Movistar+. 

“It’s not the best performance, especially when you’re playing at home and winning in the end.”

“This is Europe, even if it’s the Europa League, and teams are there on their own merits.”

Xavi’s team is still unbeaten in the 90 minutes since their defeat to Bayern Munich in their final Champions League group game last year.

However, the Catalan giants are likely to have to score a win on Thursday to win this tournament to win the competition for the first time.

Rangers have made a significant step towards making it to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history since they lost the final in the 2008 UEFA Cup final to Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side has followed up their thrilling victory against Borussia Dortmund in the play-off round with a dominant first-leg display against Red Star at Ibrox.

James Tavernier’s penalty and Alfredo Morelos’ 28th career goal of this tournament placed the home team in the lead.

A visiting Midfielder Aleksandar Katai, had earlier had two goals disallowed and was able to save a penalty at the hands of Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

The Scottish champions made the most of Leon Balogun, adding a third within six minutes of the break to put the Glasgow giants in complete control going into the second phase.

“It’s an unbelievable achievement,” Rangers captain Tavernier said to BT Sport. 

“We aren’t even halfway there, but the players were fantastic.”

“We really managed it well and we’ve put ourselves in a good position. We can’t be complacent, though and we’ll go in there like it’s 0-0.”

Next week, Atalanta will take advantage of Germany after Luis Muriel scored twice in the 3-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Bergamo.

Leverkusen the winger, Moussa Diaby’s strike in the 63rd minute was the eighth time he scored in just seven games, but the game was on the brink of ending.

In other news, Abel Ruiz scored in the opening minute of play as Braga defeated Monaco by 2-0 in Portugal in the Portuguese league, and Munir El Haddadi handed Sevilla the win with a goal of 1-0 against West Ham in the early kick-off.

A thriller with eight goals

Plenty of goals was scored during the 3rd-tier Europa Conference League, with PSV Eindhoven and FC Copenhagen striking a stunning 4-4 draw.

The Danish team had a lead of 3-1 and 4-3 in the Philips Stadion However, Eran Zahavi grabbed an equalizer after five minutes of play in the game for PSV following Cody Gakpo had scored twice and missed a penalty kick.

Leicester beat French side Rennes by 2-0 on The King Power Stadium as Kelechi Iheanacho’s injury-time strike was added on to the goal scored by Marc Albrighton at the hour-mark.

“This was a tough draw for us against a really good side,” said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.

“I thought the players were fantastic. The concentration level was very good.”

Jose Mourinho’s Roma won 1-0 at Vitesse Arnhem. Marseille lost a last-minute goal in their 2-1 victory over FC Basel at the Stade Velodrome.

Feyenoord defeated Feyenoord’s 5-1 win over Partizan Belgrade in Serbia in a disappointing night for Serbia’s capital clubs. Slavia Prague saw off LASK Linz 4-1.