UECL: Barco the hero as Strasbourg advance
After a nervy one-all draw with Croatian side HK Rijeka, RC Strasbourg advanced to the quarterfinals of the Conference League, progressing 3-2 on aggregate. Catch up on all the action from La Meinau with the latest.
Rijeka take the lead...
It was a big day for RC Strasbourg -- Gessime Yassine and Samir El Mourabet had both called up by Morocco for the first time, with Martial Godo selected by Côte d'Ivoire as well. All three were in Gary O'Neil's starting eleven as he sought to field a strong side in the absence of Ben Chilwell, Guéla Doué, and Diego Moreira, as well as long-term absentee Emmanuel Emegha. Having played a raft of midweek matches of late across the Conference League and the Coupe de France, the hosts were a little leggy, and Rijeka looked to take advantage of this from the off.
On eight minutes, the Croatians' pressure resulted in a free kick wide from the left, but it was deflected wide and at the other end, Godo and Abdoul Ouattara were impressing on the left flank. After a quarter of an hour, Joaquín Panichelli had a shot from a tight angle, but the offside flag came up, and Strasbourg would rue their restiveness six minutes later as Toni Fruk scored from a cutback after his run went untracked. Conceding seemed to light a fire under Racing but despite Julio Enciso (26') and Yassine (32') finding good positions, they continued to trail, with Andrew Omobamidele having the last chance of the half as he spooned the ball over the bar at a corner.
Strasbourg’s star. Valentín Barco. 🇦🇷🎩 pic.twitter.com/uelJjPU5Ug
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) March 19, 2026
...but Barco makes the difference!
After the break, Racing emerged with renewed verve, and even had the ball in the net (49') from a free kick, only for the offside flag to deny Lucas Høgsberg. Under pressure, O'Neil brought on Sebastian Nanasi on the hour, and the Swedish international would make the difference ten minutes later. After a sublime ball from El Mourabet out to him on the wing, he held the ball up just long enough to play in Valentín Barco, who leveled the match and put his side back ahead on aggregate.
Racing were in a good position, but the result was far from sealed, as Rijeka continued to press, and the Alsatians looked nervy at corners. Indeed, in added time, they nearly sent the tie to extra time, as goalkeeper Martin Zlomislić almost scored at the back post after coming up for a corner, but as it was the draw was enough to send O'Neil's side through. Next up in the competition will be a date with German side Mainz in the quarters in mid-April, but first they'll face FC Nantes in Ligue 1 McDonald's this weekend, their final match before the international break.
