Sport

Olivier Giroud bags a hat-trick as Chelsea reach Europa League quarter-finals

Arsenal's Ainsley Maitland-Niles celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the 3-0 win over Rennes in their Uefa Europa League round of 16, second leg clash at the Emirates. The Gunners progressed 4-3 on aggregate
Arsenal's Ainsley Maitland-Niles celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the 3-0 win over Rennes in their Uefa Europa League round of 16, second leg clash at the Emirates. The Gunners progressed 4-3 on aggregate Arsenal's Ainsley Maitland-Niles celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the 3-0 win over Rennes in their Uefa Europa League round of 16, second leg clash at the Emirates. The Gunners progressed 4-3 on aggregate

OLIVIER Giroud plundered a hat-trick as Chelsea marched into the Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine.

The 2013 winners were relentless as they extended their aggregate lead to 8-0 with the Frenchman taking his tally in this season's competition to nine goals in as many games.

Giroud needed less than five minutes to extend his side's 3-0 first-leg advantage with a tap-in after Willian's corner had been flicked on, and he doubled his tally 12 minutes before the break when he converted Marcos Alonso's inviting cross.

Alonso himself put the visitors in total control with a third on the stroke of half-time and Giroud completed his treble as he headed Willian's 59th-minute free-kick past goalkeeper Denys Boyko before Callum Hudson-Odoi rounded off the win late on.

Goncalo Guedes emerged from the bench in Russia to rescue Valencia with an injury-time goal as Krasnodar came within seconds of a famous victory.

Fellow substitute Shapi Suleymanov looked to have blasted the Champions League drop-outs out of the competition with an 85th-minute strike, but Guedes' equaliser three minutes into added time made it 3-2 on aggregate.

Italian outfit Napoli survived a concerted fightback as they went through despite losing 3-1 at Red Bull Salzburg.

Arkadiusz Milik extended the visitors' aggregate lead to 4-0 with a close-range 14th-minute finish, although Salzburg were level on the night within 11 minutes when Munas Dabour fired home.

The Austrian champions, who went into the game undefeated in 17 European fixtures on their own ground, gave themselves hope when substitute Fredrik Gulbrandsen struck with 25 minutes remaining but although Christoph Leitgeb reduced the deficit further in stoppage time, Napoli held on for a 4-3 aggregate win.