Paris: Chelsea outclassed Dynamo Kiev 3-0 in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie Thursday but Arsenal slumped to a 1-3 defeat at French club Rennes.
Napoli, Dynamo Zagreb, Villarreal and Valencia will also take victories into next week’s second legs, while the games between Sevilla – Slavia Prague and Eintracht Frankfurt – Inter Milan ended all square.
Chelsea were by far the better side at Stamford Bridge – they had eight shots on target to Kiev’s none – but it was not until Callum Hudson-Odoi scored a third goal in added on time that the scoreline fully reflected their dominance.
Pedro put the home side ahead after 17 minutes when he played a one-two with Olivier Giroud and set them on the road to their eighth win in nine Europa League games this season.
Brazilian midfielder Willian made it two with a perfect free-kick after 65 minutes before 18-year-old substitute Hudson-Odoi side-footed home.
Arsenal had never lost to French opposition away from home in 12 previous European games and they took an early lead when what looked like a cross from Alex Iwobi evaded everyone and sneaked in at the far post.
Playing in their change turquoise-green shirts, the English side controlled most of the first half but the match changed completely four minutes before half time when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Rennes equalised from the resulting free-kick when Benjamin Bourigeaud rifled home at the second attempt and they came out for the second half looking far more positive than the Londoners.
The French team went ahead 20 minutes into the second half when Mehdi Zeffane’s shot looped off defender Nacho Monreal into the net and Ismaila Sarr made it 3-1 two minutes from time when he powered home a header from a lovely curling left-wing cross.
First-half goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Fabian Ruiz, and an own goal by Jerome Onguene gave Napoli a 3-0 over Austrian champions Salzburg and extended their unbeaten home record in the competition to five matches.
Other results
Villarreal 3 Zenit 1
Valencia 2 Krasnodar 1
Napoli 3 Red Bull 0
Dinamo Zagreb 1 Benfica 0
Sevilla 2 Slavia Prague 2
Agencies