RB SALZBURG MANAGER Matthias Jaissle gave Jose Mourinho a blast from the past as he raced the length of the touchline to celebrate with his players after Nicola Capaldo’s late header secured a first-leg victory over Roma.
In scenes reminiscent of Mourinho’s famous celebration when his Porto side beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League almost 20 years ago, Jaissle could not contain his excitement at the 88th-minute goal which gives them a slender lead heading for the return in Italy.
Roma missed a good chance in the first half when striker Tammy Abraham fired a shot from inside the box at goalkeeper Philipp Kohn. They had another chance nine minutes from time when Andrea Belotti’s close-range strike crashed against the crossbar, and they were made to pay when Capaldo was teed up by defender Strahinja Pavlovic’s deft pass.
That led to Jaissle sprinting to savour the moment with his team.
There were similar scenese of joy for FC Nantes when they produced a stunning counter attack move to earn a famous 1-1 draw away at Juventus.
After falling behind to a clinical header from Dušan Vlahović in the 13th minute, the French side laboured until springing into life on the hour mark.
Fabien Centonze fed Mostafa Mohamed and the Egyptian forward’s reverse pass was perfect for Ludovic Blas to smash over Wojciech Szczęsny with power and precision.
Juve rallied after, hitting the post and bar twice before seeing a late VAR check for a penalty denied.
It was a far less exciting affair in Amsterdam as Ajax failed to manager a shot on target in a 0-0 draw with Union Berlin in the first leg of their knockout play-off.
There Dutch rivals, PSV Eindhoven fared far worse however, losing 3-0 to Sevilla in Spain. Goals from Youssef En Neysiri, Lucas Ocampos and Nemanja Gudelj saw them cruise past Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side.
In a five goal thriller between Bayer Leverkusen and AS Monaco, the French side edged matters 3-2 while fellow Ligue 1 side Rennes trail Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1.
Finally, in Portugal, a Sebastian Coates equaliser in the 94th minute salvaged a 1-1 draw for Sporting Lisbon against FC Midtylland, with Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte telling UEFA.com: “Obviously the result wasn’t what we wanted. We had an obligation to win. It wasn’t a good game for us and it’s not been a good season.
“There are 90 minutes left and that’s what football is all about: we have the opportunity to change in a week’s time and we’re going to try to do that.”
