Juergen Klopp made a fairly successful return to his
old club Borussia Dortmund Thursday, with a 1-1 draw for Liverpool in
a colourful Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Divock Origi gave Liverpool the lead with what could turn out to be a
valuable away goal, only for defender Mats Hummels to level for
Dortmund.
Meanwhile in Spain, holders Sevilla battled out an impressive 2-1 win
at Athletic Bilbao, who took the lead through ageless veteran Aritz
Aduruz.
Kolo took advantage of chaos in the Bilbao defence to equalize for
Sevilla - who won the competition in 2014 and 2015 - then Vicente
Iborra hit a late winner for the visitors, despite a strong suspicion
of offside.
Villarreal beat Sparta Prague 2-1 thanks to a handsome brace from
Cedric Bakambu, either side of an away goal from Jakub Brabec, while
Shakhtar Donetsk won 2-1 at Braga on goals from Yaroslav Rakitskiy
and Facundo Ferreyra.
Rome (dpa) - Roma beat second-place Napoli 1-0 with a late Radja Nainggolan goal on Monday to hand the Serie A title to leaders Juventus with three games to go.
The Rome Giallorossi, on 71 points from 35 games, move two points behind Napoli to boost their hopes of getting automatic access to the next Champions League.
Juve, who won 2-1 at Fiorentina Sunday to move to 85 points, celebrated their fifth successive league triumph at the camp in Vinovo, outside Turin, as fans gathered in the city's central San Carlo square.
Napoli are poised to earn direct access to the next Champions League, while the Giallorossi are qualified for the tournament's play-offs.
"Napoli are strong. I said earlier that to get past them we had to win today," Nainggolan said. "We are still behind and now we have to win all the remaining games, hoping that they drop some points."
At Rome's Stadio Olimpico, both sides pressed furiously in midfield, with Roma having the edge early in the game and coming close when Mohamed Salah narrowly missed after pouncing on a loose ball in the first minute.
Napoli had their 30-goal striker Gonzalo Higuain back from a three-game ban and saw him threaten in the 29th with some stunning control to get the better of two defenders before Wojciech Szczesny parried his attempt.
Captain Marek Hamsik opened a brisker second half for Napoli with a shot and Dries Mertens misfired on 65 minutes, while Roma striker Stephan El Shaarawy failed to control the ball in the box five minutes later.
Szczesny blocked another Higuain effort on the break in the 83rd, and Hamsik missed the rebound.
Roma fielded veteran Francesco Totti in the last nine minutes and found the winner in the 89th when Belgium international Nainggolan drilled a low shot into the right corner.
In Verona the bottom-placed hosts stunned AC Milan 2-1 from a last-gasp free-kick by Luca Siligardi and managed to avoid their looming relegation.
Jeremy Menez tapped in to put the Devils ahead on 21 minutes, and after the break Giampaolo Pazzini levelled, converting a penalty before Siligardi's textbook shot.
Milan are sixth, one point clear of Sassuolo.
Fourth-last Carpi moved three points clear of the three-team drop zone winning 1-0 at home to Empoli from a late deflection by substitute Kevin Lasagna.
The guests in the 25th had Levan Mchedlidze red-carded for hitting an opponent before Carpi coach Fabrizio Castori was likewise sent off over his protests. Carpi's Lorenzo Lollo marched off with a second booking on 90 minutes.