Barca held by Galatasaray, Rangers thump Red Star Belgrade
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Barcelona stumbled to a goalless draw with Galatasaray in their Europa League last-16 first leg.
PARIS (AFP) - Barcelona stumbled to a goalless draw with Galatasaray in their Europa League last-16 first leg at the Camp Nou on Thursday, while Rangers cruised into a 3-0 lead in their tie against Red Star Belgrade.
Xavi Hernandez s Barca, playing in Europe s second-tier competition for the first time since 2004, dominated for long periods.
But it was their Turkish visitors who almost grabbed a lead ahead of the return game in Istanbul next week, with Bafetimbi Gomis only denied a winner by a VAR review for offside.
Memphis Depay, making his first start since December, forced Galatasaray goalkeeper Inaki Pena into two good first-half saves.
Jordi Alba, Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong all went close in the second period for Barcelona, but the hosts could not find a breakthrough.
"The feeling is bad," Xavi admitted to Movistar+. "It s not a good result, playing at home and dominating so much.
"This is Europe, even if it s the Europa League, and teams are there on their own merits."
Xavi s side are still unbeaten in 90 minutes since defeat by Bayern Munich in their final Champions League group game last year.
But the Catalan giants will likely have to find a victory next Thursday to extend their bid to win this competition for the first time.
Rangers took a big step towards reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since losing the 2008 UEFA Cup final to Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst s men backed up their stunning win over Borussia Dortmund in the play-off round with another dominant first-leg performance against Red Star at Ibrox.
James Tavernier s penalty and Alfredo Morelos 28th career goal in the tournament put the home side in command.
Visiting midfielder Aleksandar Katai, who had earlier seen two goals disallowed, then had a penalty saved by Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor.
The Scottish champions took full advantage, with Leon Balogun adding a third six minutes after the break to put the Glasgow giants in total control heading into the second leg.
"It s an unbelievable achievement," Rangers captain Tavernier told BT Sport. "We are only halfway there but the boys were brilliant.
"We really managed it well and we ve put ourselves in a good position. We can t be complacent, though and we ll go in there like it s 0-0."
Atalanta will take a lead to Germany next week after Luis Muriel scored twice in a 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in Bergamo.
Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby s 63rd-minute strike, his eighth goal in seven games, kept the tie on a knife-edge.
Elsewhere, Abel Ruiz scored in the first minute as Braga beat Monaco 2-0 in Portugal, while Munir El Haddadi gave Sevilla a 1-0 home win over West Ham in the early kick-off.
- Eight-goal thriller -
There were goals galore in the third-tier Europa Conference League, with PSV Eindhoven and FC Copenhagen playing out a remarkable 4-4 draw.
The Danish visitors led 3-1 and 4-3 at the Philips Stadion, but Eran Zahavi grabbed an equaliser with five minutes remaining for PSV after Cody Gakpo had scored twice and missed a spot-kick.
Leicester saw off French side Rennes 2-0 at the King Power Stadium as Kelechi Iheanacho s injury-time effort added to Marc Albrighton s opener on the half-hour mark.
"This was a really tough draw for us against a really good side," said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.
"I thought the players were fantastic. The concentration level was very good."
Jose Mourinho s Roma claimed a 1-0 win at Vitesse Arnhem and Marseille conceded a late goal in a 2-1 success against FC Basel at the Stade Velodrome.
Feyenoord romped to a 5-2 thrashing of Partizan Belgrade in Serbia in a bad night for the country s capital clubs, and Slavia Prague saw off LASK Linz 4-1.
