Europa League: Giroud Hat-Trick Fires Chelsea Past Kiev; Napoli, Valencia Also Qualify For Q-Finals

Oliver Giroud scored a hat-trick for Chelsea who qualified for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League in grand style dispatching Dynamo Kiev 5-0 in the second leg round of of their Round of 16 tie to advance 8-0 on aggregate, reports Completesports.com.

The Blues had in the first leg at Stamford Bridge thrashed the Ukrainian side 3-0 last Thursday.

Giroud’s hat-trick took his tally to 10 in nine games for the Blues in the Europa League while Marcos Alonso and Callum Hudson-Odoi also got on the scoresheet.

The France striker gave Chelsea an early lead in the fifth minute when he finished off a flick header from Ruben Loftus-Cheek off a corner from Willian.

Giroud doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 33rd minute tapping in a cross from Alonso from the left flank.

Chelsea were 3-0 up when Alonso finished off a brilliant Chelsea team play from close range which involved Callum Hudson Odoi and Giroud inside the Dynamo Kiev’s box.

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Giroud completed his hat-trick on the hour mark when he headed in Willian’s cross. Hudson-Odoi made it 5-0 in the 78th minute when he raced in behind to meet a through ball from Giroud, and no one could catch him before finishing beyond Denys Boyko. The goal was his fifth in the competition for Chelsea.

In Russia, Goncalo Guedes scored in added time to earn Valencia a 1-1 draw with FC Krasnodar in the second leg clash played at the Krasnodar Stadium to advance 3-2 on aggregate. Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov scored the opener five minutes from time. The Spanish side had won the first leg 2-1.

SS Napoli also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 4-3 aggregate win over Salzburg despite losing 3-1 in the second leg tie in Austria. Napoli won the first leg 3-0.

Goals from Munas Dabbur, Fredrik Gulbrandsen and Christoph Leitgeb cancelled out an early opener from Arkadiusz Milik for Napoli.

The draws for the quarter-final, semi-final will hold on Friday, March 15.

By Johnny Edward

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