Sporting Lisbon stopped in Poland by Rakow (1-1), Atalanta therefore maintains a three-point lead in the group. Grifo-show, hat-trick against Freiburg. Liverpool landslide over Toulouse
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Not only Gattuso, but also De Zerbi gives himself European smiles: Rino’s Marseille beats Aek Athens (3-1), the former Sassuolo coach’s Brighton worsens Ajax’s crisis (2-0), fresh from change on the bench, and interrupts his five-match winless streak. The distances in group D of the Europa League remain unchanged: Atalanta maintains the three-point advantage over Sporting because the Portuguese stopped at 1-1 in Katowice, also due to Gyokeres’ expulsion at the start of the match. Show by Vincenzo Grifo, author of the hat-trick that beats Backa Topola for the success of Freiburg, while West Ham falls in Athens against Olympiacos; negative protagonist Ogbonna, who passes his own goalkeeper. Liverpool have fun against Toulouse, Bayer Leverkusen are unstoppable against Qarabag. In Roma’s group, Sheriff and Servette drew 1-1.
RAKOW-SPORTING 1-1
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Despite a game in numerical inferiority, Sporting emerged unscathed and with some regret from the trip to Poland. In the 8th minute, in fact, Gyokeres was sent off thanks to an on-field review for the gratuitous stomp on the ankle of Arsenic, who was unable to continue the match. If the suspension were for two matches, the attacker could also miss the return match against Atalanta. However, the Portuguese scored shortly after with Coates’ usual header following a dead ball. Edwards comes close to doubling the lead (21′) with a shot to the near post, Rakow’s response is a clumsy attempt by Juan Carlos who fails to deflect it into the net in front of goal (48′). In the 79th minute Rakow scored their first European goal: Kochergin slotted in the center, Piasecki only had to push the ball into the net.
MARSEILLE-AEK 3-1
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The French largely take control of the game. Ndiaye has two important chances, in the 5th and 20th minutes, both of which result in central shots from close range blocked by Stankovic. Vitinha, on the other hand, makes no mistake, caught well in the center by Clauss, despite a suspicious contact on Vida (27 ‘). Aek equalized in the 53rd minute with Piñeda, who did well to recover the ball in the heart of the area after having controlled it poorly, but the Greeks then threw everything away. Stankovic receives a harmless back pass and inadvertently serves Vitinha, who discards it before being brought down by the goalkeeper: red (after review at VAR) and penalty, which Harit converts from the spot in the 59th minute. Not even ten minutes later it’s still a penalty for Marseille, due to a foul by Amrabat on Renan: Veretout goes from eleven metres, who makes no mistake. At the end Sarr and Aubameyang came close to scoring a poker, the former then scored it in the 86th minute but it was disallowed for offside.
OLYMPIACOS-WEST HAM 2-1
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The Greeks demonstrate right from the start that they have a much better attitude. The inertia of the match turns in favor more significantly in the 33rd minute, when Fortounis turns well and unleashes a powerful left-footed shot from distance to make it 1-0. Just before the break, Olympiacos doubled their lead: Podence’s cross from the right, clumsy intervention by Ogbonna who deflected past Areola. The Londoners gave themselves a few minutes of hope with the first shot on goal, a nice volley from Paqueta who reopened the game in the 87th minute at least for the final.
ARIS LIMASSOL-REAL BETIS 0-1
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Very close race, between Aris Limassol and Real Betis. The Spaniards play the game for the entire ninety minutes, but are unable to overcome the compactness of their opponents. They produce very little going forward, without ever being truly dangerous, until the 75th minute: after a carom in the area with two crossbars, Perez reiterates the goal for a very heavy goal.
SPARTA PRAGUE-RANGERS 0-0
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The Czechs pushed hard and dominated for almost the entire match, but did not break through the Scottish wall. Butland overcame two close shots from Kuchta and Birmancevic (6′), then responded to Rynes from distance. The Rangers take refuge behind and try to scratch towards the end of the game: Wright tries to do so, finding the response from Jensen (77′), Danilo Pereira even hits the crossbar in the 86th minute with a left-footed volley which is also deflected by the goalkeeper .
BACKA TOPOLA-FRIBURG 1-3
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The Serbs deluded themselves for a while, but with good reason. In the 10th minute Petrovic broke the deadlock by taking advantage of the hole on the left conceded by Freiburg following Jovanovic’s suggestion. The Germans increase the pressure, in the 37th minute Holer’s goal was canceled due to an offside position. In the second half Grifo’s solo, who turns it around on his own: first with a penalty in the 49th minute due to a handball in the area, then in the 59th minute with a non-irresistible free kick which however was enough to surprise the goalkeeper, finally with a strong shot to the near post after receiving from Doan (73′).
MOLDE-HACKEN 5-1
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Celebration for Molde, who have fun with Hacken. In the 6th minute the Norwegians start the show with Gulbrandsen, who receives in the area, controls on the run and finishes with a slide. A quarter of an hour later Sonko equalized with a precise shot from the edge of the box, but in the 27th minute Eikrem brought him back ahead with a diagonal shot from distance. At half an hour the score is already to be updated due to Breivik’s excellent right-footed shot. Even better was Eikrem’s poker (55′), who replicated Kroos’ splendid free-kick in Germany-Sweden. Bjornbak puts the exclamation point in injury time with a header almost on the goal line.
LIVERPOOL-TOULOUSE 5-1
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The Reds immediately directed the match thanks to the prowess of Diogo Jota, who in the 9th minute turned between three men, jumped into fourth and finished diagonally. Dallinga equalizes in the 16th minute by taking advantage of the clumsy climb of the English defensive line, Kelleher takes off coldly. Gravenberch challenges Restes, Endo passes him in the 31st minute with a good header from Alexander-Arnold’s cross. Three turns later Nuñez also joins the scorers’ voices, dishing a loose ball into the area under the crossbar after a rebound. Toulouse have a huge chance to get back into the game, when the Liverpool goalkeeper makes a mistake and Suazo has the goal wide open to shorten, but hits Alexander-Arnold on the line. In the 64th minute Gravenberch scores a deserved goal: Nuñez bypasses the goalkeeper but hits the post with the mirror in front, the Dutchman thanks and deposits it into the net. Salah also took part in the goal in injury time, after a fake shot with his right foot into the top corner.
BRIGHTON-AJAX 2-0
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Prestigious victory for Brighton, who built a lot in the first half and only converted at the end of the half, when Joao Pedro collected the rebound from Mitoma’s shot (42′). The knockout blow is by Ansu Fati, with a delicate diagonal on Adingra’s nice touch to reward the cut. The former Barcelona player doesn’t go far from the big target with a placed shot, while on the other side Berghuis hits the post with a shot to close (56′).
BAYER LEVERKUSEN-QARABAG 5-1
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Master of ceremonies at the Bayer Leverkusen party is Florian Wirtz. In the 4th minute the ball opens, shortly after the quarter of an hour Qarabag responds with Bayramov on a penalty. Xabi Alonso’s playmaker then rewards Grimaldo’s cut who puts the goalkeeper under his legs (29′) and Boniface scores the hat trick with a splendid shot into the top corner after control at the limit. The Germans don’t stop even in the second half: the one-two that knocks out the Azerbaijanis is again signed by Grimaldo, who opens the plate from outside the area (54′), and by Tapsoba in the 57th minute, with the tap-in on the Boniface’s conclusion. In the 78th minute Grimaldo even came close to scoring his own hat-trick, but his free kick hit the crossbar.
PANATHINAIKOS-RENNES 1-2
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Panathinaikos’ defense forgets about Gouri on Le Fee’s cross: in the 7th minute the French are already ahead. The reaction goes through Cerin’s free kick, saved, and at the start of the second half Rennes doubles their lead: free kick from the right, Kalimuendo invents a valuable back-heel shot. Ioannidis halves the gap with a penalty in the 61st minute, Brignoli excels on Kalimuendo on the restart led by Gouiri (70′) and then on the latter ten minutes later, touching just enough to extend it for a corner.
UNION SAINT GILLOISE-LASK 2-1
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The Belgians won three very important points to relaunch themselves in Group E. However, it was the guests who took the lead with Usor, who coordinated well on Stojkovic’s cross in the 24th minute. The Austrians lower their center of gravity to defend the result, Union Saint-Gilloise doesn’t give up and does well: Lapoussin wins a penalty which Puertas converts in the 84th minute. Practically at the end, Burgess scores the comeback with a header from a free kick.
SHERIFF-SERVETTE 1-1
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Despite the commitment away from home, Servette did not refuse to attack and created the opening goal on an incursion that developed on the left: Mazikou moved forward well and set up Crivelli for the easiest of supports (41′). Sheriff poured forward, the Swiss contained well but as soon as they were distracted they were hit by Ankeye, who equalized in the 80th minute.
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