MANCHESTER United manager Jose Mourinho is relieved to be leaving Russia with an away goal and fully-fit squad after a tough Europa League clash on Rostov's quagmire pitch.
The last-16 first leg in southern Russia proved a predictably difficult assignment, but United coped manfully on the sandy, rock-solid playing surface that infuriated the Portuguese in the build-up.
Uefa deemed the surface playable and, fortunately for European football's governing body and Mourinho, United make the 1,875-mile journey home unscathed.
They would have also gone back with a first-leg win was it not for Aleksandr Bukharov making it 1-1, although Henrikh Mkhitaryan's away goal could prove crucial in next week's return leg at Old Trafford.
"We go home with a positive result," Mourinho said at the Olimp-2 stadium.
"We know that it will be a difficult match, we know that we need to win or to have a 0-0 draw, so the game is open.
"The tie is open, but in these circumstances I think it was a positive result.
"An away goal is always positive. It is better 1-1 that 0-0, obviously.
"But the game is open, the result is open and this Rostov team have experience of playing big matches, big opponents, big stadiums.
"I don't think it is a problem for them to go to Old Trafford and to compete against us.
"They play Sunday against Terek Grozny, we play Monday against Chelsea. Who knows, we could have extra-time and 30 minutes more to play, so for us it is difficult.
"But we are one step from being in the quarter-finals, the players have that motivation.
"The fans for sure at Old Trafford will push with us. Hopefully in one week's time, we go to the quarter-final."
There was an air of relief from Mourinho after the testing first leg in Rostov-on-Don, even if he regularly underlined that the tie is far from over.
The immediate attention now switches to Monday's trip to Stamford Bridge, where United were humiliated 4-0 as the Portuguese made an embarrassing return to his former stomping ground in October.
Mourinho is hoping to make amends in the FA Cup quarter-final and pledged not to rely on Nicky Butt's reserve team despite the holders' bloated fixture schedule.
"We want to keep the two doors open," he said, regarding the Premier League and Europa League offering routes to the Champions League.
"We have to keep getting points in the Premier League to let us go to the last months of the competition with that door open.
"In the Europa League, if we manage to go through this knock-out round, we go to the quarter-final and then you feel that the door is open.
"So we have to try, we have to try by every means. We have a trophy in our pocket, which is always a good thing, a good feeling for everyone.
"But now we have the Premier League top-four to fight for, the Europa League to try and beat Rostov, and Monday we don't go with a Nicky Butt team.
"We cannot go with Nicky Butt's team. Manchester United is too big. Manchester United is the winner of the competition.
"It is not Chelsea's fault that we were given this Monday match, so we have to make changes for sure because we play Thursday against Rostov and they play Sunday against Terek Grozny.
"But we cannot go to Stamford Bridge with a Nicky Butt team."
Rostov coach Ivan Daniliants struck a philosophical figure on a night when Vladimir Granat fractured his collar-bone and Timofei Kalachev and Aleksandr Gatskan collected bookings that will see them miss the second leg
"We were a different side in each half," Daniliants said. "We did not play like the home team in the first one but then regrouped and started to look more like ourselves.
"We got more lively, took the game to them and scored. On the one hand, they are Manchester United and we can be happy with a 1-1 draw, but we are also disappointed that we only really played for 45 minutes and not the whole 90."
NABIL Fekir and Alexandre Lacazette fired late goals as Lyon hit back to beat Roma 4-2 at the Stade des Lumieres.
Roma struck twice through Mohamed Salah and Federico Fazio to lead at half-time after Mouctar Diakhaby had given Lyon an early lead.
Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso restored parity early in the second period and, after Fekir had put the French side ahead, Lacazette added a crucial fourth in stoppage time.
Mbwana Aly Samatta's double helped Genk to a 5-2 win in their all-Belgian tie at Gent.
Samuel Kalu levelled for Gent after Ruslan Malinovskyi's low free-kick had given Genk the lead, but further goals from Omar Colley, Samatta and Jere Uronen put the visitors 4-1 up at half-time.
Kalifa Coulibaly's header reduced Gent's deficit again with half an hour left, only for Samatta to grab his second and Genk's fifth.
Claudio Beauvue's last-minute header clinched Celta Vigo a 2-1 first-leg win against Krasnodar.
Danish midfielder Daniel Wass broke the deadlock for Celta with a free-kick early in the second half and although the Russians responded through Swede Viktor Claesson six minutes later, Beauvue headed home Hugo Mallo's cross in the 90th minute.
Besiktas hold a slight advantage in their tie against Olympiacos after drawing 1-1 in Greece.
Argentina international Esteban Cambiasso's fine header put Olympiacos ahead at the break, but Cameroon forward Vincent Aboubakar fired Besiktas level early in the second half.
Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach also drew 1-1 in an all-German encounter in Gelsenkirchen, where Jonas Hofmann's first-half opener for the Foals was cancelled out by Schalke midfielder Guido Burgstaller before the interval.
