LONDON: Arsenal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at BATE Borisov on a night forward Alexandre Lacazette will want to forget after being sent off late on, while crosstown rivals Chelsea claimed a 2-1 victory at Malmo to ease some of the pressure on beleaguered coach Maurizio Sarri in their Europa League last 32 first-leg ties on Thursday.

Inter Milan and Napoli and Spanish sides Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal also tasted victory on the road, while Benfica, Club Brugge and Viktoria Plzen have the upper hand heading into next week’s second legs.

Arsenal had scored 10 goals in two matches against BATE Borisov in the same competition in 2017 but never looked like being as prolific in the freezing temperatures of Belarus.

BATE took the lead when Stanislav Dragun nodded a free kick past Arsenal goalkeeper Peter Cech seconds before halftime after Lacazette put a header wide midway through the first half.

The Frenchman thought he had made up for his miss 10 minutes after the break but his effort was ruled out for offside.

To compound his misery Lacazette was shown a red card five minutes from time for felling Aleksandar Filipovic with an elbow after the defender held him back and was also booked.

Arsenal’s London neighbours Chelsea did much better in similar temperatures, overcoming Malmo in Sweden.

After watching his side crumble in a 6-0 defeat at Premier League rivals Manchester City on Sunday, Sarri was looking for a response.

Ross Barkley gave the 2013 winners the lead when he stabbed home from close range on the half-hour and Oliver Giroud got his fifth goal in four Europa League matches with a slick back heel from a Willian cross 14 minutes into the second half.

Malmo’s Anders Christiansen scored a lovely goal on the break to make it 2-1 but the Swedes could not level the tie.

“I am happy because we played with confidence and it wasn’t really very easy after the last match [the defeat by City],” Sarri told BT Sport. “I think I am always confident but sometimes we had the wrong approach with matches so we need to be careful in every match.”

Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti claimed his first win in the Europa League with a 3-1 victory at FC Zurich.

Ancelotti, who won the Champions League three times as a coach, was given an early present when a mistake from Zurich goalkeeper Yanick Brecher allowed Arkadiusz Milik to set up Lorenzo Insigne for a tap in, 10 minutes before Jose Callejon made it 2-0 when he slotted home from Kevin Malcuit’s low cross in the 21st minute.

Callejon set Piotr Zielinski on his way to seal it late, before Benjamin Kololli restored some lost pride for Zurich with a chipped “Panenka” penalty straight down the middle.

Inter claimed a 1-0 win at Rapid Vienna despite Mauro Icardi snubbing the trip after being stripped of the captaincy over a contract row, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the winner from the penalty spot.

In the only tie featuring two teams who dropped down from the Champions League, visitors Benfica beat Galatasaray 2-1 after taking the lead in the 27th minute when Salvio converted a penalty given for handball.

Christian Luyindama equalised for the home side nine minutes into the second period but Benfica’s top scorer Haris Seferovic clinched the win with a fine solo goal 10 minutes later.

It was also a good night for Spanish clubs, with Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal winning away and Real Betis rescuing a last-gasp draw at Stade Rennes.

In Glasgow, Denis Cheryshev gave Valencia the lead against Celtic three minutes before halftime when he finished off a fine counter attack by Ruben Sobrino.

The roles were reversed in the second half when Sobrino tapped home after Cheryshev did the hard work on the break as the Spaniards extended their recent unbeaten run to six matches.

Alfonso Pedraza’s goal after three minutes was enough to give Villarreal a 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon and maintain their unbeaten run in this year’s competition.

Wissam Ben Yedder’s close-range strike in the 22nd minute helped record five-time winners Sevilla take a large step towards the last 16 with a 1-0 victory over Lazio in Rome.

Real Betis were 2-0 down after 10 minutes at Rennes, a team making their first knockout round appearance in Europe.

The Spaniards got one back after 32 minutes through Giovani Lo Celso but Hatem Ben Arfa restored the home side’s two-goal cushion right on halftime with a penalty.

Betis had the better of the second period and Sidnei made it 3-2 with a header before Mexican teenager Diego Lainez got the equaliser their pressure deserved just before the final whistle.

Plzen and Brugge got late goals for 2-1 home wins over Dinamo Zagreb and Salzburg respectively, while 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk twice recovered to draw 2-2 with visitors Eintracht Frankfurt.

Brazilian midfielder Taison salvaged the draw for Shakhtar, who were fortunate not to concede in a host of chances for Frankfurt late on.

Dynamo Kiev scored in the last minute to salvage a 2-2 draw at Olympiakos Piraeus, Russian side Krasnodar’s game with visiting Bayer Leverkusen was goalless while Slavia Prague and Genk also failed to break the deadlock.

On Tuesday, Fenerbahce beat Zenit St Petersburg 1-0.

The return legs take place on February 21, except for Sevilla v Lazio, which is due to be played a day earlier.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2019