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Arsenal took a major step towards reaching the Europa League quarterfinals by winning 2-0 in their round-of-16 first leg at AC Milan on Thursday.

Milan came into the match having gone 13 consecutive matches unbeaten, while the Gunners had won just once in their last five in all competitions, but it was Arsene Wenger's side who used first-half goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey to silence the crowd at the San Siro.

Mkhitaryan opened the scoring with his first Arsenal goal on 15 minutes when he settled a Mesut Ozil pass, cut inside and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma after his right-footed shot deflected off a defender inside the box.

Arsenal looked dangerous going forward throughout the remainder of first half and they deservedly added their second with the last action before the break through Ramsey, who received a through ball from Ozil down the right channel, calmly rounded Donnarumma and slotted into the empty net.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund's hopes of advancing are in jeopardy following a 2-1 home defeat to Salzburg.

The Austrian side were in control at the Westfalenstadion, hitting the post while also seeing a shot cleared off the line late in the first half.

However, Salzburg's 49th-minute breakthrough come via a controversial Valon Berisha penalty that was given after Omer Toprak brought down Hee-Chan Hwang near the endline, though the contact appeared to occur outside the box.

And Salzburg soon doubled their lead when Stefan Lainer cut the ball back through the 18-yard box for Berisha to lash home his second.

Dortmund brought on Christian Pulisic after the hour mark, and the U.S. teenager made an immediate impact, racing towards goal and delivering a cross for Andre Schurrle to tap in from close range to supply a lifeline ahead of the second leg.

Atletico Madrid grabbed the advantage over Lokomotiv Moscow by earning a 3-0 victory in their home leg at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Midway through the first half, the Russian club allowed Saul to have entirely too much space and he made them pay with a 30-yard rocket for the opening goal.

It was nearly 2-0 soon after when Antoine Griezmann refused to give up on a long ball forward and took it off the foot of goalkeeper Guilherme near the sideline, but he could not place his shot in the empty net from about 40 yards.

The second goal came two minutes into the second half as Saul played in Griezmann, whose low shot was stopped by a diving save Guilherme, but the goalkeeper could only parry it into path of Costa.

And with time winding down, Atletico added a third as Juanfran cut back a cross into the box that fell for Koke to lash into the net.

Lyon secured a 1-0 win away to CSKA Moscow as Marcelo scored in the second half.

Memphis Depay nearly found the opener from a free kick on the hour mark, only to be denied by a fine diving save from Igor Akinfeev.

But eight minutes later, Marcelo rose highest follwing a Memphis corner kick to give his side the edge ahead of the return leg in France.

Junior Moraes's spectacular stike after Dynamo Kiev had given up a lead allowed the Ukrainian club to earn a 2-2 draw at Lazio.

Dynamo took the lead seven minutes into the second half as Viktor Tsygankov scored with his back-heel, but Lazio responded two minutes later through Ciro Immobile after a perfect Felipe Anderson through ball.

Anderson put the Italian side ahead eight minutes later from a pass from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but Moraes spun and fired a looping shot from the edge of the box for a share of the spoils.

Lucas Ocampos scored in the opening minute and Marseille went on to defeat Athletic Bilbao 3-1.

The ex-Monaco winger scored 41 seconds in, and after Dimitri Payet made it 2-0 in the 14th minute, Ocampos also netted in the second half as Marseille put one foot into the quarterfinals.

Former West Ham forward Aritz Aduriz reduced the deficit from the spot after Adil Rami handled in the area, but Payet then laid on the third goal for Ocampos in the 58th minute.

Fredy Montero scored either side of half-time as Sporting Lisbon managed a 2-0 home win over Viktoria Plzen.

Montero, who recently returned to Sporting after spells in China and MLS, delivered a stupendous volley from a Fabio Coentrao cross to open the scoring in first-half stoppage time.

And four minutes after the break, Bruno Fernandes pounced on a loose ball but Montero still had it all to do to score his second and seal the result.

RB Leipzig held on to defeat Zenit St. Petersburg 2-1 in a cagey affair in Germany.

Leipzig found their breakthrough 11 minutes after the break when a cheeky Timo Werner back-heel found Bruma free in the box, where he curled around Zenit goalkeeper Andrey Lunev with the inside of his right foot.

Leipzig added a second in the final quarter-hour -- Werner latching onto Naby Keita's inch-perfect through ball and coolly chipping Lunev, who'd left his goal line to intervene.

But Zenit stole an away goal against the run of play in the final five minutes when, from a free kick, Domenico Criscito fired over the wall and into the top corner to give the Russians a real chance to advance in the return leg.

ESPN