De Zerbi’s men overcome at home by the Greeks. Liverpool and West Ham were victorious, along with Rangers, Leverkusen and Rennes
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The most sensational surprise of this first evening of the Europa League comes from Brighton, where on their international debut Roberto De Zerbi’s team falls at home against Matias Almeyda’s Aek Athens. Ajax and Marseille put on a spectacular 3-3 draw, West Ham comeback to beat Backa Topola 3-1; Grifo scored in Freiburg’s away win over Olympiacos (2-3). Sporting, Atalanta’s rival, finds the three points at Sturm Graz (1-2). In the 6.45pm matches Liverpool goes behind, wastes a lot, but in the end finds itself on the Lask pitch, beaten 3-1. Bayer Leverkusen leaves no chance for Swedish champions Hacken, outclassed 4-0, and Rennes just as easily gets rid of Maccabi Haifa (3-0). Villarreal surprisingly collapsed in Athens against Panathinaikos, while in Roma’s group Slavia Prague moved to Switzerland against Servette.
lask LINZ-liverpool 1-3
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Surprisingly, Lask takes the lead in the 14th minute: corner kick taken towards the outside of the area, Flecker controls and unleashes a great right-footed shot that leaves Kelleher no chance. Doak and Nuñez’s attempts are good but not enough, the first half ends with the Reds down in the score. The superiority of the English, however, soon came to the fore and the Uruguayan equalized from a penalty. Kelleher had to overcome Havel and Ljubicic and this allowed Liverpool to take the lead. Diaz only had to push Gravenberch’s suggestion into the net in the 63rd minute, Salah scored the safety goal in the 88th minute assisted by Nuñez.
panathinaikos-villarreal 2-0
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The attitude of the Spaniards is that of those who think not to lose: a lot of play on the restart and the initiative of the game left to Panathinaikos. The opportunities arise according to this script: in the 17th minute Morales launches himself on the counterattack, targets the defense but then closes his right foot too much from a good position. In the 38th minute, however, Villarreal conceded with the defense lined up: a splendid through ball from Kotsiras to Ioannidis, who beats him with the ball in front of Reina. Sporar seals the victory for the Greeks with a precise shot from outside the area (78′).
bayer leverkusen-hacken 4-0
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Bayer immediately started strong, crushing the Swedes in their own half. The pressure soon gives the desired results: Boniface finds an excellent through ball for Wirtz, who beats the goalkeeper with a delicious touch underneath (10′). In the 16th minute, Xabi Alonso’s team doubled their lead: Xhaka’s cross rewarded Adli’s cut into the area, who made no mistake. In the second half the Germans even spread the ball, scoring first with Boniface in the 59th minute, taking advantage of a wrong exit from the opposing defence, then Hofmann in the 70th minute, who volleyed home after a nice combination in the area with Wirtz.
RENNES-MACCABI HAIFA 3-0
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Only 56 seconds pass before Blas invents a Eurogoal: a left-footed volley from distance that surprises Nitzan, giving the French the lead. Likewise, Rennes came close to scoring a second goal, but Theate’s great shot hit the post. It is fate, however, that we only see feats. This time it is Truffert – the first center in Europe – who invents a perfect trajectory in the 31st minute, again on the fly and from outside the area, which leaves the goalkeeper stunned. In the second half Salah tries to join the magic club, but his scissors kick goes wide. He closes the score already in the 55th minute Yildrim, who soars from a corner kick.
UNION SAINT GILLOISE-TOULOUSE 1-1
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The match starts ten minutes later than scheduled due to city traffic, with both teams’ buses arriving late at the stadium. The first opportunity fell at the feet of Vanhoutte, whose crossing shot just missed the target on the half-hour mark. Nilsson’s attempt from the edge is more interesting, which Restes counters well (38′). Immediately before the break, the guests took the lead with Dallinga’s penalty; the final 1-1 was achieved in the 70th minute by Amoura, served by Castro. In injury time after the second half, Costa was sent off for a second yellow card.
SERVETTE-SLAVIA PRAGUE 0-2
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The Czechs took advantage in the initial part and in the 32nd minute they broke the deadlock: Masopust started the action, the Swiss defense returned the ball to him in the area and the midfielder thanked him, scoring with a sharp diagonal shot. Igoh scores the second in the 58th minute, heading a corner kick from the left.
QARABAG-MOLDE 1-0
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Very little emotion in Baku, where Qarabag prevails. The Azeris remain increasingly offensive compared to their opponents, at the beginning of the second half they create the greatest dangers in sequence. Juninho devours a goal one-on-one with the goalkeeper, a few moments later Andrade fixes everything and scores the decisive goal in the 55th minute.
BRIGHTON-AEK ATHENS 2-3
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Brighton’s European debut is not idyllic. In the 11th minute Aek took the lead with a great diving header from Sidibe following a corner. Things risked getting worse when Garcia launched into the net and put it wide. Joao Pedro was brought down in the area in the 28th minute, the referee initially booked him for simulation but after an on-field review he came to his senses and awarded the penalty, which the attacker converted for the equalizer after half an hour. In the 40th minute, however, Almeyda’s team regained the lead thanks to Gacinovic’s split finish following a free kick. Halfway through the second half the déjà-vu: another foul on Joao Pedro, another penalty and again the attacker converts from eleven metres. But Aek never dies and in the 84th minute the trick was scored by Ponce, who concluded an action overturned in just a few touches by the Greeks. Adingra comes close to equalizing, but Stankovic gets excited and defends his success, even on Gross’s next shot.
AJAX-MARSEILLE 3-3
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Non-stop emotions in Amsterdam. The Dutch broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with Forbes, who exploited Mbemba’s hole and headed home. In the 20th minute Berghuis doubles the lead, left too free to shoot a corner into the area, but from that moment on Ajax lends its side to Marseille, who don’t let themselves be prayed for. Clauss takes advantage of a soft defense, wedges himself into the area and finds the net diagonally (23′). Ndiaye hit the crossbar, but the equalizer came in the 38th minute when Aubameyang freed himself at the edge and slid a shot, surprising Gorter at the near post. Steijn’s team put the game back on track in the 52nd minute with Taylor, who did well to follow the action and collect Forbes’ back ball from the back. However, it is too early to claim victory: Aubameyang again, in the 78th minute, scores with a sharp right-footed shot to the far post. Just before the 90th minute, Taylor picks up the ball and after a heel check, he volleys it, but the shot is just over.
STURM GRAZ-SPORTING 1-2
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After a soporific first half, the second half is decidedly entertaining. Scherpen is the great protagonist of the match and when he returns to the locker room he saves Trincao’s header from close range. In the 58th minute the Austrians scored with Boving, who repeated Kiteishvili’s shot on the post into the net. The Sturm Graz goalkeeper triumphs in sequence on Paulinho twice and on Inacio, but then he isn’t perfect on Sporting’s equaliser: he doesn’t hold back an uncomplicated conclusion and allows Gyokeres to score. In the final the comeback is completed thanks to Diomandé, with a shot from the edge deflected several times (85′).
WEST HAM-BACKA TOPOLA 3-1
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The match is much more uncertain than the result suggests. The Hammers start charging straight away, Kudus and Ogbonna come close to scoring without looking at goal. At the end of the half, Stojic, in one of Backa Topola’s very rare starts, grazes the crossbar with his head. The Serbs found themselves sensationally ahead in the 47th minute: total amnesia from Ogbonna who lost the ball as the last man and opened a highway for Stanic who made no mistakes. The equalizer came in the 66th minute when Petrovic badly deflected Benrahma’s cross from the left. The 2-1 and 3-1 arrive practically in photocopy: two headers, from Kudus (70′) and Coufal (82′), both from corners always taken from the left.
RANGERS-REAL BETIS 1-0
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Apart from a few ideas from Isco, for long stretches the match had very little to tell. It is no coincidence that the only goal of the match came from an inactive ball situation: it was Davies in the 67th minute who gave the Scots the victory by resolving a melee following a corner kick.
OLYMPIACOS-FRIBURG 2-3
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Sallai opens the hostilities by taking advantage of a missed back pass (9′), El Kaabi brings the match back into balance by scoring on a slide from a cross from the right. Before the break, Retsos brought down Doan in the area and Grifo scored the 1-2 goal from the spot. In the 75th minute it was once again the Moroccan striker from Olympiacos who equalized, again splitting a cross, but in the final (86′) Philipp froze the Athens crowd with a sharp finish at the near post after a shot from the corner flag.
SPARTA PRAGUE-ARIS LIMASSOL 3-2
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Krejci does everything in the first half. First he causes the penalty converted by Kokorin in the 9th minute, then he scores a brace: in the 20th minute with a header from a corner kick, in the 26th minute resolving a melee generated by a throw-in. Vitik puts the three points in the safe, again from a corner (67′), making Babicka’s seal useless, who scores with a nice left-footed shot from outside the area at the start of injury time. However, by then it is too late.
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