PARIS (AFP) – Romelu Lukaku shouldered in the equaliser to earn Roma a 1-1 draw away to Feyenoord in the first leg of their Europa League playoff on Thursday.
Elsewhere, a pair of Argentine veterans struck late to give their teams victories.
Mauro Icardi fired home a shot from the edge of the penalty area in added time to earn Galatasaray a 3-2 home win over Sparta Prague after the Czechs had twice fought back from a goal down.
In Lisbon, Angel di Maria, converted his second penalty of the game seven minutes into added time to give Benfica a 2-1 victory over Toulouse.
AC Milan beat Rennes 3-0 with England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek scoring two headed goals and Rafael Leao rounding off a dominant home display after a neat exchange with Theo Hernandez.
“I’ve been working on this, getting to the right position to score and it’s going well now,” said Loftus-Cheek. “Tonight was incredible at home.”
In Hamburg, Iliman Ndiaye thought he had bagged a last minute winner for Marseille but Eguinaldo’s injury-time strike rescued a point for Ukrainian exiles Shakhtar Donetsk in a 2-2 draw.
In Rotterdam, Igor Paixao headed hosts Feyenoord in front in added time at the end of the first half.
But in the 67th minute, Lukaku met a cross with his shoulder to send the ball looping into the net.
“The defender was trying to hold me off but I knew I was much stronger than him so I got to the ball,” Lukaku told UEFA.com.
“When the chance comes, you have to score – and that’s what we did.”
It was his 21st goal in his last 18 Europa League appearances.
“Both teams created a lot of chances and had a lot of shots,” said Feyenoord coach Arne Slot. “Sometimes we were better, sometimes they were.”
Marseille, whose only victory this year was against fifth-tier Thionville in the French Cup, twice seemed briefly poised to break that barren streak.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the visitors ahead after 64 minutes with a first-time half volley, but four minutes later Mykola Matviyenko fired home after Marseille failed to clear a free kick.
