Lukaku earns Roma draw at Feyenoord
Striker Romelu Lukaku showed his strength to force home the equaliser as AS Roma held Feyenoord to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday.
Igor Paixao’s header on the stroke of halftime gave the Dutch club the lead but they will now be up against it in next week’s second leg in Rome as they continue a growing rivalry with the Italian side.
Galatasaray and Sporting Lisbon were winners in two of the other four early kickoffs in the first knockout round of the competition.
Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk twice came from behind to draw 2-2 against Olympique de Marseille as they clashed in neutral Germany.
Lukaku stooped low to get a touch off the shoulder and turn in Leonardo Spinazzola’s cross for a 67th-minute equaliser after Paixao, among the shortest players on the pitch, climbed in between the Roma defence to expertly head home Quilindschy Hartman’s cross and put Feyenoord ahead at the break.
It was the third time in as many seasons Feyenoord were taking on Roma, who beat them 1-0 in the first Europa Conference League final in Tirana in 2022 and 4-2 on aggregate in the Europa League quarterfinals last year.
Galatasaray scored a late winner through Mauro Icardi to secure a 3-2 victory over Sparta Prague in Istanbul.
The Turkish giants took an early lead when Kerem Demirbay netted a low drive in the 19th minute, but Sparta equalised two minutes into the second half as Angelo Precaido took advantage of a poor clearance to slam the ball home.
Dries Mertens benefited from a wicked defection off Sparta captain Ladislav Krejci to restore Galatasaray’s lead in the 61st minute just before their defender Victor Nelsson was sent off.
Sparta took advantage of the numerical superiority and levelled within four
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