It was an exciting first leg of the UEFA Europa League playoffs as 16 teams competed to advance to the Round of 16 of the tournament. With some surprising results, such as Galatasaray's 4-1 defeat against AZ and a heated draw between Porto and AS Roma,

UEFA match observer Rui Faria focuses on one-on-one play after watching Porto and Roma draw 1-1 in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase play-off opener.

Porto and Roma, two of the pre-season favourites to win the Europa League, draw the first leg of their knockout-phase play-off.

José Mourinho’s Fenerbahce might have only just squeezed into the Europa League knockout playoff round but it is already on the brink of the round of 16. Fenerbahce dominated to beat Anderlecht 3-0 on Thursday and take a comprehensive lead to Belgium for the second leg next week.

Roma had been in control with the Zeki Celik goal, but after an unlucky deflection and the Bryan Cristante red card, were forced to hang on for a solid 1-1 Europa League play-off draw.The Giallorossi