 "Europa League: Manchester United held by Real Sociedad, Tottenham beaten by AZ Alkmaar")
Manchester United drew 1-1 away to Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday, while Tottenham suffered a 1-0 loss at Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
Joshua Zirkzee drilled in from just outside the area to give United the lead on 57 minutes in San Sebastian but Mikel Oyarzabal levelled from the spot after Bruno Fernandes was punished for a handball.
Zirkzee cut a distraught figure after missing the decisive penalty in last week’s FA Cup shootout loss to Fulham and has endured a testing first season at United, whose only remaining hope of silverware is in the Europa League.
He scored for the first time in Europe this term, unleashing a sharp low drive from 20 yards after being teed up by Alejandro Garnacho’s inviting pass.
But Ruben Amorim’s side could not hold on to their advantage as Fernandes handled at a corner, with Oyarzabal confidently converting his spot-kick.
Andre Onana made two excellent saves to keep United level as Real Sociedad pressed for a winner, leaving the tie evenly poised ahead of next week’s second leg.
“I felt until the penalty we had control of the game and then I think the penalty changed a little bit the momentum,” Amorim told TNT Sports.
“I felt our team in the last 30 minutes were really, really tired,” he added.
“We take this stage to Old Trafford… it’s going to be a different game, the pressure is going to be on us in that stadium and we have to be ready.”
Lucas Bergvall’s first-half own goal condemned Spurs to defeat in the Netherlands, and it could have been worse for Ange Postecoglou’s side were it not for three fine stops from Guglielmo Vicario.
“We were nowhere near the level we needed to be and that’s the thing we need to address,” said Postecoglou, as Spurs registered just a single shot on target.
To compound Tottenham’s misery, striker Dominic Solanke hobbled off after 20 minutes as he made his return from seven weeks out with a knee injury.
‘Very bad everywhere’
Rangers recorded an impressive 3-1 win away to Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce.
Cyriel Dessers put Rangers ahead early on in Istanbul before Alexander Djiku hauled Fenerbahce level.
Vaclav Cerny restored the lead for the Scots before striking again nine minutes from time to place Rangers in firm control under interim boss Barry Ferguson.
“We were very bad everywhere,” said Mourinho. “Maybe you laugh but for me it was a good result because of the way we performed, the result could have been bigger than this one.”
Lyon also took a big stride towards the quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory at Romanians FCSB.
Paulo Fonseca fought back tears as his players celebrated Nicolas Tagliafico’s opener with him, a day after the Portuguese coach was banned from the dugout until November by French football authorities after an angry altercation with a referee.
Malick Fofana won the game for Lyon with two late goals after Alexandru Baluta had equalised for FCSB.
Uzbek forward Eldor Shomurodov struck with the final kick of the game to snatch a 2-1 victory for Roma over Athletic Bilbao in their first leg in Italy.
Paulo Dybala smacked the bar for Roma before Inaki Williams headed Athletic in front. Angelino replied for the hosts and Shomurodov won it after the Basques had a man sent off.
Lazio grabbed an even later winner at Viktoria Plzen despite finishing with nine players, as Gustav Isaksen scored in the 98th minute for a 2-1 victory.
The Italians led through Alessio Romagnoli but Plzen responded early in the second half. Lazio then had Nicolo Rovella and Samuel Gigot dismissed before Isaksen’s goal.
Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to win 2-1 at Ajax, with Hugo Larsson and Ellyes Skhiri on target after a 10th-minute goal by Brian Brobbey.
Bodo/Glimt won 3-0 at home to Olympiakos with a brace from Kasper Hogh.
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