Andrea Pirlo’s sumptuous free kick earned Juventus a place in the Europa League quarterfinals, where the competition favourites were joined in an attractive line-up by Sevilla after its penalty-shootout win over fierce Spanish rival Real Betis on Thursday.
Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble.
Lyon, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar will also be in Friday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland, where the team to avoid will be Juventus even though the Italian champions made heavy work of their all-Italian last-16 match against Fiorentina.
The classy Italy midfielder shows no sign of decline at the age of 34 as he scored a similarly sublime free kick for his team in a last-gasp league win over Genoa on Sunday, which kept Juve 14 points clear in Serie A and on course to defend its title.
Juventus will be hosting the Europa League final on May 14 and the runaway Italian league leader may yet be playing in the showpiece match in front of its own fans.
Sevilla overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit courtesy of goals by Jose Antonio Reyes and Carlos Bacca, earning a 2-0 win that sent the match to penalties.
Sevilla’s first spot kick by Vitolo was saved but Alfred N’Diaye and Nono failed to find the target with Betis’ last two attempts, putting the two-time winners through 4-3 on penalties.
Benfica remained on course for a return to the final after surviving a late fight back by Tottenham to draw 2-2 in their second leg and advance 5-3 on aggregate.
Porto’s 1-0 lead from its first leg against Napoli was wiped out by Goran Pandev’s deft finish in the 21st minute. The Italian side dominated but was picked off on counterattacks through goals by Nabil Ghilas in the 69th and Ricardo Quaresma in the 76th.
Duvan Zapata’s consolation goal earned Napoli a 2-2 draw but it exited 3-2 on aggregate, denying coach Rafael Benitez the opportunity to retain the title he won when in interim charge of Chelsea last season.
