Vitolo's brace puts titleholders Sevilla through in UEFA Europa League

Monchengladbach were unable to overturn their 1-0 first-leg loss as Vitolo's brace smoothed Sevilla's 3-2 victory on the road in Europa League's second leg in the round of 32 on Thursday.

Both sides staged a seesaw match in which ten-men Monchengladbach was able to fight back twice. Nevertheless, Sevilla's Vitolo has large shares on the progression into round of last 16 as he broke Monchengladbach's resistance in the closing period.

The hosts suffered the worst possible start into the encounter as defender Martin Stranzl deflected a cross by Aleix Vidal into his own goal with just eight minutes into the game.

Monchengladbach needed eleven minutes to recover from the setback when Granit Xhaka restored parity. The Swiss international made use of a one-two with Patrick Herrmann to slot home from eight meters.

The host pressed frenetically for the lead but the goals were scored at the other end as Vitolo completed a solo run, starting from the midfield, to mark the 2-1 lead against the run of the game at the 26th minute.

However, resilient Monchengladbach remained unimpressed and responded just three minutes later with the two all draw when Thorgan Hazard capitalized on a failed clearance attempt to chest the ball down scoring into the far post corner. The "Foals" needed another two goals to book their ticket for the last 16.

After the restart Monchengladbach piled on the pressure but the German's remained wasteful in front of Sevilla's goal area as Max Kruse's effort grazed the bar before Thorgan Hazard rattled post.

The dominant performance by the "Foals" were halted by the second yellow card for Granti Xhaka, who was sent off at the 68th minute. As a consequence, things chanced from bad to worse for the decimated hosts as Vitolo utilized the second counter attack to kill the game by making it 3-2 on the scoreboards with an extra man on the pitch at the 79th minute. Endite