Tumultuous Europa League 3/17/11.

Manchester City won the second game but lost the war as only Aleksandar Kolarov scored for them against Dynamo Kyiv. Thus, despite the home field advantage, the English side could not make up the two goal deficit and go out 2-1 on aggregate. Mario Balotelli's 36th minute sending off really didn't help matters for City. In PSG's match against Benfica, the Portuguese club are into the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year having won 3-2 on aggergate. Nicolas Gaitan struck in the 27th before PSG's Mathieu Bodmer struck in the 35th to tie the second game 1-1. Benfica's 2-1 lead from the previous leg was enough to claim victory. In Russia meanwhile, Zenit soundly beat Twente 2-0 but still lost 3-2 on aggregate. Roman Shirokov and Aleksandr Kerzhakov struck the two respective first half strikes but to no avail. In the other game in Russia, Spartak Moskva destroyed Ajax 3-0 to complete an aggregate victory of 4-0. Dmitri Kombarov, Welliton, and Alex each struck for the Spartak Moskva win. In Spain, Villarreal defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 to top off a 5-3 victory. Santi Cazorla and Giuseppe Rossi struck the Yellow Submarine into the next round while Eren Derdiyok's 82nd minute strike was nothing to be ashamed of, but wasn't enough. Porto bested CSKA Moskva two for two as they won 2-1 for a 3-1 aggregate score. Hulk slotted home in the very first minute of the game, before Fredy Guarin struck in the 24th for a 2-0 Portuguese lead. Zoran Tosic then struck CSKA one back but no more goals came as the half time scoreline was the fulltime scoreline: 2-1. In Scotland, PSV were able to edge Rangers 1-0 thanks to a Jeremain Lens strike right in front of goal. 'Gers were actually sunk by that one goal as the aggregate finished 1-0. Finally, last but not least, the third Portuguese side, Braga, also go through to the next round - beating Liverpool in the process. This only due to the fact that they had won 1-0 in Portugal. They defended magnificantly well in England in their game today to draw 0-0. A boring yet exciting game.