Europa League roundup: Athletic stun Roma after Nico Williams double

Nico Williams scored twice as Athletic Club advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals with a 3-1 second-leg win over 10-man Roma on Thursday and Lazio progressed after a 1-1 home draw with Viktoria Plzen. Lazio will face Bodø/Glimt in the last eight after the Norwegian club continued their impressive European adventure despite losing 2-1 at Olympiakos, while Eintracht Frankfurt had little trouble finishing off Ajax with a 4-1 win.

Roma, 2-1 up from the first leg, were down to 10 men in the 11th minute after Mats Hummels saw red for taking down Maroan Sannadi who had intercepted his sloppy pass and Williams levelled the tie on aggregate in added time before the break. His shot took a deflection off Roma’s Angeliño before finding the net and Athletic went ahead on aggregate with 22 minutes left when Yuri Berchiche headed in from a corner.

Athletic looked certain to advance when Williams scored again but an added-time penalty converted by Leandro Paredes made for a nervy ending before a 4-3 aggregate win. The eventual final will be held in Bilbao.

“I’m really looking forward to being in that final,” Williams said. “To be Athletic is to suffer and we also had to have that little bit of suffering at the end. We did an incredible job and we deserved to go through.”

Lazio won the first leg 2-1 away but Viktoria Plzen stunned the Stadio Olimpico crowd and levelled the tie on aggregate early in the second half when Pavel Sulc fired home from a Rafiu Durosinmi layoff. The hosts avoided extra time when Alessio Romagnoli headed in a corner 13 minutes from the end to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory.

Bodø/Glimt, with a three-goal cushion from the first leg, went further ahead when Kasper Høgh, who scored a double in the first game, slotted in from the edge of the six-yard box. Olympiakos rallied, however, and Roman Yaremchuk scored twice. But the hosts had a penalty saved and went down to 10 men after the goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis was sent off and Bodø advanced 4-2 on aggregate.

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Eintracht Frankfurt held a 2-1 advantage over Ajax from the first leg and were two up on the night within 25 minutes as Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and Mario Götze scored from close range. Hugo Ekitike’s superb solo goal put the hosts out of sight, before Kenneth Taylor netted a consolation for the Dutch side and Götze scored again to wrap up a 6-2 aggregate win.

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