AC Milan leads in Europa, Real Betis trails in Europa Conference

It’s the first-legs of the knockout round playoffs in the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. The Europa and Europa Conference hold playoffs between the group stage runners-up and the 3rd-place teams that dropped from the competition above them. That’s how AC Milan ended up in the Europa League knockout round.

Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah’s AC Milan beat Rennes 3-0 at home in the opening leg of that Europa League playoff series, with Pulisic subbing out in the 81st minute. Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored for AC Milan in the 32nd and 47th with Rafael Leao adding a goal in the 52nd minute.

In the Europa Conference League playoff round opening legs, Johnny Cardoso’s Real Betis lost 1-0 at home to Dinamo Zagreb to a 75th minute penalty. Timmy Chandler was on the bench for Eintracht’s 2-2 draw at Union Saint-Gilloise. Fares Chaibi scored for Eintracht in the 3rd and Sasa Kalajdzic doubled the lead in the 10th. Union Saint-Gilloise pulled a goal back in the 31st and equalized in the 68th. They played a man down from a 78th minute red card.

Moving to the Concacaf Champions Cup, Brandon Vazquez subbed on in the 66th minute of Monterrey’s 3-0 home win on the night and 7-1 on aggregate over Comunicaciones. Hector Moreno scored for Monterrey in the 10th, Jesus Corona doubled the lead in the 31st, and Vazquez added another goal in the 79th minute.