Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski combined to put Borussia Dortmund on the brink of the Champions League quarter-finals with a 4-2 win over Zenit St Petersburg.

Reus made one for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and scored another as Dortmund took advantage of a poor first-half performance from their hosts to go 2-0 up in the last-16 first leg.
Zenit improved after the break and twice pulled a goal back, through Oleg Shatov and Hulk’s penalty, but both times Lewandowski responded, with Reus the provider for the second to cap an impressive display from the Germany midfielder.

With the Russian league still not back from its winter break, Zenit have played no competitive football for two months – and they were caught cold by a lightning fast start from last year’s beaten finalists.
In the fourth minute, Reus stayed strong to muscle his way through the Zenit defence and, when he was finally stopped, Mkhitaryan latched on to the loose ball and fired home.

It got worse for Zenit barely 60 seconds later with Mkhitaryan this time playing a supporting role as his cross found Kevin Grosskreutz, who knocked the ball down for Reus to lash home and make it 2-0.

And the bad news kept on coming for the hosts, with Andrey Arshavin forced off the pitch after 15 minutes with an apparent hamstring problem, replaced by veteran Ukraine international Anatoliy Tymoschuk.

Lewandowski had a shot from a narrow angle saved by Yuri Lodigin as the German side went for a third, while Zenit’s best chance of the half came in the form of a Hulk strike from distance which went wide.

It looked like more of the same at the start of the second half when Lewandowski’s effort was turned behind for a corner by Lodigin, but the hosts hauled themselves back into the game just before the hour, albeit in inelegant fashion.

A scramble in the Dortmund box saw the ball fall to Jose Rondon. His effort struck the post, but the loose ball ended up at the feet of Shatov, who had a simple task to convert.

It was only temporary respite, though, as Lewandowski restored the two-goal lead for Dortmund, playing a neat exchange with compatriot Lukasz Piszczek and managing to dig the ball out from under his feet to slide it past Lodigin.

Piszczek turned villain in the 69th minute when he was adjudged, somewhat harshly, to have fouled Viktor Faitzulin in the box, and Hulk made no mistake from the spot.

But again Dortmund made an immediate response, as Lewandowski netted from a narrow angle having been played in by Reus.

It was no less than the visitors deserved and Jurgen Klopp’s men will be confident of taking another step towards emulating last year’s heroics when the tie heads back to Germany next month.

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Manchester United crashed to defeat as Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell scored a stunning goal to leave them on the brink of an early Champions League exit.

Campbell has not kicked a ball for the Gunners since signing in 2011, but he showed superb quality to score the second goal in a relatively straightforward 2-0 victory for Olympiacos.

Alejandro Dominguez’s clever backheel put the Greeks ahead in the first half and from then on in Moyes’ team rarely looked like being able to get back into the first leg of this last-16 tie.

Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic had talked up United’s chances of winning the Champions League in the build-up to the match, but it was easy to see why Moyes’ side were 25-1 shots to land the trophy going into this match in the port suburb of the Greek capital.

Rooney worked tirelessly, as he always does, and Vidic put in a solid performance at the back.

But United’s midfield, as it has done for much of this season, looked awfully pedestrian for the majority of the match, which was played out amid a booming atmosphere inside the Karaiskakis Stadium.

Olympiacos, who are bidding to make the last eight for only the second time, made a mockery of the away side’s billing as favourites.

And without the cup-tied Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj, who was overlooked, United looked toothless in attack.

With United 11 points adrift of the top four in the Premier League, winning the Champions League may be the best way to get back into the competition next year, but they will have to win by three clear goals in the second leg on March 19 to make it through to the quarter-finals after this latest sub-par performance.

Olympiacos fans in all four corners of the stadium made their message clear to United from the warm-up: they were not welcome.

The jeering started when the players came out for their pre-match drills and it did not stop for the rest of the night.

Despite the hostile noise being belted out from the stands, United’s early showing did not indicate they would buckle under pressure as Olympiacos coach Michel suggested they would on Monday. That was all to change.

Patrice Evra went into the book in the second minute, when he handled Campbell’s cross. But just when United started to settle into a rhythm, Olympiacos opened them up.

Chris Smalling slipped and the ball made its way to Dominguez, who ran through on goal. Only a superb sliding tackle from Vidic stopped Olympiacos taking the lead.

What followed was a tepid 20-minute period of play. United always took the safe option on the attack. Olympiacos pushed forward, meaning Rooney spent as much time in his own half as the opposition’s.

The only time United entered the home box, Van Persie was out-muscled by Kostas Manolas – a defender Moyes almost signed at Everton.

Tom Cleverley and Giannis Maniatis both had weak shots at either end of the pitch, but the overall quality of the game was poor.

The home crowd remained almost deafeningly loud, however, and the decibel level rose again as Hernan Perez cut in from the left flank and fired a powerful drive which a relieved David de Gea watched hit the side-netting.

The energetic Dominguez blotted his copy book by play acting while trying to win a penalty, but he soon redeemed himself in the eyes of the noisy home supporters when he cleverly put Olympiacos ahead.

Maniatis took advantage of Evra’s weak clearance, driving at the United defence before unleashing a low shot which Dominguez diverted past De Gea with a clever backheel.

United hung on until half-time, but nine minutes after the break their troubles worsened as Olympiacos doubled their lead.

The finish – this time struck by Campbell – was another top-class effort.

The Arsenal winger, who has spent time on loan at Real Betis and Lorient, just about kept his balance after nutmegging Michael Carrick and he then curled a stunning shot around Rio Ferdinand and the sprawling De Gea from 20 yards.

The man on the loud hailer behind the home goal bellowed and the home fans demanded their team go in for the kill. Michael Olaitan nearly obliged, firing a 20-yard shot just wide of a flat-footed De Gea.

Campbell received a standing ovation when he came off moments later.

Moyes brought on Shinji Kagawa and Danny Welbeck but they could not make the difference.

United barely threatened thereafter. Van Persie slammed a shot into the crowd from inside the box, but that was about it.

Olympiacos wanted the win more so they were not going to yield as easily as the away side had done earlier.

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The Spaniard is pleased with how the Partenopei are performing this season but concedes that they are still some way short of challenging for the Scudetto.

Rafael Benitez has admitted that Napoli are missing something, after watching his side held to a 1-1 draw at home to Genoa on Monday night.

The Partenopei dominated the first half at the San Paolo and went in a goal to the good at the break thanks to a sublime finish from Gonzalo Higuain.

However, they allowed Genoa back into the game after the interval and the visitors snatched a deserved draw through Emanuele Calaio’s late free kick, much to the frustration of Benitez.

“We should have scored two or three more goals in the first half, which was really so positive,” the Spaniard told Sky Sport Italia.

“Now we must understand that we need to kill games like this as soon as possible.

“The team is fine and the season is good, even if we’re lacking something when it comes to seeing out games.

“There are still many games to play, but we can do what we did today, which is get close to the goal and then mess up the key play.

“Even though Genoa did not create much in the second half, we were not in control of the game. Had we played as we had in the first half, we would not have had any problems.

“Also if we had done better defensively, we could have won this game.

“But I’m not too worried. The president knows well that we were lacking something to be able to take some steps forward; to better manage these games.

“It’s not going badly, but we could do better. We are, though, third in the championship, in the final of the Coppa Italia and in contention in the Europa League.”

The draw means that Napoli are six points behind second-placed Roma having played one game more than the Giallorossi, but remain six points ahead of fourth-placed Fiorentina, who were also held on Monday night, away to Parma.

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The striker insists a strong European campaign is always a priority and believes David Moyes’ side can go far in the competition with his sights set on the final.

Wayne Rooney claims winning one Champions League title “is never enough” and believes Manchester United possess the quality to go far in the competition this season.

David Moyes’ side face Olympiakos in Greece in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie on Tuesday evening.

Rooney won his only Champions League medal to date after beating Chelsea in the 2008 final and the 28-year-old maintains his focus has always been on a successful campaign in Europe.

“You always want to win,” Rooney told reporters.

“One is never enough, especially at this club. You have to keep trying to get into those finals. The feeling you get when you win the trophy is incredible.

“There’s no way you want to stop at one. You want to win every year. That’s impossible, but if we can get to the final that will be great. It’s an opportunity to win another trophy. Hopefully we can do that.”

United topped topped Group A ahead of Real Sociedad, Shakhtar Donetsk and Bayer Leverkusen and Rooney feels achieving a positive result should be his side’s main focus in Athens.

“I think we have the quality to go really far,” said the forward.

“The main aim is to get the right result on Tuesday and then take each game as it comes. The year Chelsea won it they nearly went out about three times.

“You just have to keep going, whether or not we get the right result or not. We’re looking to get the victory and then progress to the quarter-finals.”

According to Goal

The Brazilian is in a bullish frame of mind with the Rossoneri having moved to within five points of fifth-placed Inter with a 2-0 win over Sampdoria at the weekend.

Kaka is in no doubt that AC Milan can still finish high enough in Serie A to secure European football for next season.

By the midway point of the Italian championship, the Rossoneri appeared more likely to be involved in a relegation battle than fighting for a place in the top five.

However, Milan have won four of their six games since Clarence Seedorf replaced Massimiliano Allegri as coach, meaning they know lie just five points behind city rivals Inter, who sit fifth.

“I believe we can get into Europe, but we’re taking one game at a time,” Kaka told GazzettaTV.

“Things are changing, we are playing well and if things go well on the pitch the results will come too.

“I like Seedorf, he is a good coach. He has his philosophy of working and in the last few games it has shown.”

Meanwhile, Kaka says that the struggling Keisuke Honda deserves time to settle at San Siro following his January arrival on a free transfer from CSKA Moscow.

“Honda needs patience,” the Brazilian argued. “He has come from Russian football, which is very different to Italian football.”

Turning his attention to his own situation, Kaka is well aware that he needs to finish the season strongly if he is to have any hope of earning a recall to the Brazil squad in time for the World Cup.

“I need to do well with Milan,” he acknowledged. “Then, on May 5, we’ll see if my name is on the list for the Brazil squad.”

According to Goal

Juventus beat city rivals Torino 1-0 thanks to a thunderous strike from Carlos Tevez and pulled nine points clear at the top of the Serie A table.

Tevez’s clever shot on the turn after 30 minutes of the latest Turin derby proved enough to restore the Italian champions’ advantage over Roma, after the capital club edged out Bologna on Saturday night.
Seventh-placed Torino – who have now failed to score against Juve in 10 attempts, taking only one point from those encounters – flirted with denying the leaders a 13th consecutive home win but could not find the back of the net.
The first ripples of applause from the Juventus Stadium crowd were heard after Andrea Pirlo tested Daniele Padelli with a free-kick from 30 yards.
Torino then checked Gianluigi Buffon was switched on as Omar El Kaddouri burst into the Juve box to fire Ciro Immobile’s pass just over the bar.
The Bianconeri enjoyed a good double chance with Tevez blasting against Padelli before Fernando Llorente saw his run into the box closed down by the Torino defence.
Juve continued to turn the screw and got their reward shortly before the half-hour mark.
Tevez had struggled to get into the box and duly tried another approach. When Kwadwo Asamoah squared the ball infield from the left, the Argentinian took one touch before twisting his body and hammering home on the half-volley.
Torino might have equalised five minutes later but Buffon got gloves to Kamil Glik’s headed effort from a corner.
Conte’s men remained dangerous, though, and should have doubled their lead just before the break when Tevez loped into the area when set up by Stephan Liechsteiner.
Cesare Bovo, however, made the clearance at the very last moment.
Buffon parried Matteo Darmian’s long-range effort when play resumed and Torino came closer to scoring their first goal against Juve since 2002 when Immobile broke through the backline to shoot straight at the veteran keeper.
At the other end, Torino denied Tevez his brace as Padelli rushed out to punch the striker’s snapshot out for a corner.
The visitors kept pushing and threatened again when Immobile got his head to Giovanni Pasquale’s cross, only for the ball to sail wide.
Try as they might, Torino could not force an equaliser and, with time running out, Juve were content to sit back and ride out their sixth consecutive derby win.

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Bayern Munich continued their dominance of the Bundesliga with a 4-0 win at Hannover, opening up a 19-point lead at the summit.

Thomas Muller scored twice with Thiago Alcantara and Mario Mandzukic also on target in yet another comfortable victory for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Hannover started well and created plenty of chances to score, but Bayern showed a sublime level of efficiency to take maximum points for the 20th time in 22 matches, exceeding 60 goals for the season in the process.
Hannover’s third defeat in a row practically ends any lingering hopes they had of qualifying for Europe next season and forces them instead to look over their shoulders at the relegation zone.
It did not look like it would be such a comfortable win for Bayern as Hannover took the game to them.
Artjoms Rudnevs could have given them the lead in the 15th minute when he took the ball around Tom Starke, making his first start of the season in the Bayern goal to give Manuel Neuer a rest, but the Bayern man recovered to block the Latvian’s shot.
Ten minutes later, Bayern took the lead with their first real chance of the game, Rafinha finding room down the right and sending in a cross which was met by an unmarked Muller to head in at the near post.
Marcelo then gifted Bayern a second as he got caught in a duel with Mandzukic, forgetting about the play going on around him and allowing Bastian Schweinsteiger to lift a ball over the rest of the Hannover back line to Thiago, who was consequently not in an offside position and able to chest the ball down before beating Ron-Robert Zieler.
Hannover could have reduced the arrears early in the second half when Starke again raced off his line, this time to meet Szabolcs Huszti and again block the shot.
Two minutes later, Muller made it 3-0.
David Alaba’s cross was helped on its way by a neat backheel from Mandzukic, leaving Muller with only his Germany team-mate to beat.
Mandzukic then got in on the act himself, heading in Rafinha’s deep cross from close range with Zieler beaten again.

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Osasuna pulled off one of the shocks of the Primera Division season as they thrashed title-chasing Atletico Madrid 3-0 in Pamplona.

Atletico were much changed but still expected to cast Javi Gracia’s men aside and draw level with city rivals Real Madrid – who they host next weekend – at the top of the table.
Instead they were three down inside a breathless opening half as they were stunned by goals from Alvaro Cejudo, Emiliano Armenteros and Roberto Torres.
All of the goals were preventable and while Atletico improved marginally after the break, a deserving Osasuna had already inflicted too much damage.
Coach Diego Simeone’s decision to make five changes from the team that won 1-0 away to AC Milan in the Champions League in midweek therefore appeared to backfire, although he did still include top scorer Diego Costa alongside David Villa up front.
It was in defence, however, that Atletico were most obviously laboured and, after a fourth defeat in their past six games in all competitions, Simeone has work to do ahead of a Madrid derby next weekend that has now taken on even more importance for his side.
Atletico will go into the match three points behind Real, who end the weekend clear at the top after Barcelona also suffered a surprise defeat, 3-1 at Real Socieded on Saturday.
Both Barca and Real had already failed to win at Osasuna this season, despite Gracia’s side sitting only just above the relegation places, and Atletico were quickly on course to join them.
Osasuna took just six minutes to forge ahead when Atletico’s entire defence was fooled by a training-ground corner routine.
Cejudo was allowed to ghost into the area and volley home at the back-post completely unmarked after the away defence were drawn into marking the dummy runs that provided him with an embarrassing amount of space in behind them.
Atletico may have still been expected to recover, but were 2-0 down on 21 minutes thanks to a cracking Armenteros 25-yard drive that flew in off the post.
There was little Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could do about it although his defence were culpable after Armenteros latched onto a poor clearance before taking two touches and pulling the trigger.
Osasuna’s dream opening 45 minutes was then complete just before the break when more ponderous defending allowed Torres to head Abella Damia’s left-wing cross in at the near post.
The midfielder did not have to jump to get on the end of the delivery as the static Atletico defenders watched on.
The expected Atletico fightback never materialised after the break with Osasuna goalkeeper Andres hardly tested as he kept a memorable clean sheet.
Substitute Raul Garcia volleyed wide from an acute angle before forcing the goalkeeper to make a brave block at his feet, but otherwise Osasuna ably kept their more fancied rivals at bay to move up to 12th place and seven points clear of the bottom three.

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