Joao Felix scores hat-trick as Benfica beat Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa League quarter-final first leg
Valencia beat Villarreal while Arsenal and Chelsea claim first-leg victories over Napoli and Slavia Prague respectively
Thursday 11 April 2019 22:49, UK
Joao Felix scored a hat-trick as Benfica beat 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2 in their Europa League quarter-final first leg clash.
The 19-year-old striker delivered a memorable display in Lisbon as the Portuguese club took a commanding advantage into next week's return encounter.
He became the youngest player in Europa League history to net a treble, while Ruben Dias also scored for the hosts.
The visitors had defender Enda N'Dicka sent off by English referee Anthony Taylor for a foul after 21 minutes.
Luka Jovic had equalised Felix's opener, and Frankfurt did not fall completely away, with substitute Goncalo Paciencia's late goal giving them a glimmer of hope.
Chelsea won 1-0 at Slavia Prague thanks to a late goal from Marcos Alonso while Arsenal beat Napoli 2-0.
Villarreal suffered yet another late collapse to give Valencia a firm grip of their all-Spanish quarter-final, as Daniel Wass and Goncalo Guedes both scored for the visitors in injury-time.
Valencia had taken the lead six minutes into the game despite captain Dani Parejo missing a penalty, as Guedes was on hand to score from the rebound.
Santi Cazorla made no mistake from the spot at the other end as he calmly equalised in the 36th for his second goal in the Europa League.
But Villarreal, who are 18th in La Liga, have made a habit of conceding late goals. They wasted a two-goal lead in a recent 3-2 loss at Celta Vigo in the league and then couldn't hold on to a 4-2 lead against Barcelona, conceding twice in injury time then as well for a 4-4 draw.
