Last year’s Europa League finalist AS Rome entered the new cup season with a 2:1 win in Moldova. The next opponent of Slavia Prague was defeated by Šeriff Tiraspol 2:1. Glasgow Rangers won Group C, where Sparta also plays, over Betis Sevilla 1-0 with a goal from ex-Slavic player Abdallah Sima.
European Conference League winners West Ham United, with several substitutes in the line-up, struggled at home to Serbian European cup newcomers Bačka Topola. He lost for a long time, but in the end, thanks to a header from substitute Tomáš Souček, he won 3:1. Even another favorite, FC Liverpool, did not play at full strength in Linz, but turned around the unfavorable development and won 3:1.
Tiraspol, who face Eden in two weeks’ time in Group G, were more dangerous early on and Mbekeli hit the post. But in the fourth minute of first-half regulation, Argentina’s world champion Paredes scored the first goal since returning to Rome from Juventus in the summer. He was helped a lot by the run of one of the home defenders. At the same time, Paredes only came on the pitch during the first half instead of the injured Sanchez.
The Italian coach of the home team, Roberto Bordin, devised a successful tactic against his compatriots, which led to an equaliser, which was taken care of by the Colombian Tovar. But in the 65th minute, Belgian Lukaku broke through the home defense to seal the victory. In a hectic finish, home team player Joao Paulo received a red card for protesting.
In contrast to Saturday’s 0:5 debacle in Barcelona, a recovered Bravo stood in the Betis goal in Glasgow and kept a clean sheet for a long time. Until he was surpassed by the Senegalese Sima, who was present when Slavia beat Rangers 2-0 at the same stadium two years ago.
Liverpool are missing out on the Champions League for the first time since 2017 and it looked like they weren’t taking the lower competition too seriously. Manager Klopp has saved several mainstays including goalkeeper Alisson, Argentina’s world champion Mac Allister and attacking tandem Salah – Gakpo for Sunday’s match with West Ham.
Already in the 14th minute after a corner kick, Flecker delighted the Austrian spectators with a shot from the edge of the penalty area. After the change of sides, the Uruguayan Núnez equalized from the penalty spot and the Colombian Diaz took the lead for the visitors. The Egyptian Salah started only at the end and still managed to end a great solo with the third goal. LASK did not succeed even in the fifth match against a team from the Premier League.
If Klopp spared some supports, then West Ham coach Moyes sent practically a B-class on the field against the Serbian team. Only two midfielders remained from the starting eleven that played against Manchester City on Saturday. Souček and Coufal were also sitting on the bench. Stanič made perfect use of a misunderstanding in defense, but after an hour of play, the home team prevailed after all. Souček only played the last quarter of an hour and sealed the win after a corner kick.
Bayer Leverkusen confirmed the form that brought them to the top of the Bundesliga after four rounds. He did not spare the Swedish champion Häcken, who is playing in the group stage for the first time. Wirtz and the Moroccan Adli secured the lead for the visitors in the opening sixteen minutes, and Boniface and Hofmann sealed the win in the second half.
Similar to the German Cup, Matěj Kovář got an opportunity in goal for the home team, while he is only a substitute in the Bundesliga, and he kept his team up several times. Hložek came to the lawn for the last quarter of an hour.
Villarreal, the 2021 Europa League winners, changed their coach after a poor start to the season and new coach Pacheta had to sit out a 0-2 defeat at Panathinaikos Athens after a successful debut in the Spanish league. Ioannidis and Slovinec Šporar, who replaced him in the second half, took care of it.
Freiburg won the same competition in Piraeus 3-0 last year and this time they took three points away from the Greek port. After scoring a goal in the friendly match against the Czech Republic, the Hungarian Sallai transferred his scoring form to the club and the Italian Grifo converted a penalty at the end of the first half. The Moroccan Kábi equalized each time, but no one responded to Philipp’s third goal.
The goal shootout was also seen by the spectators in Amsterdam. Ajax are struggling in the Dutch league, winning just one of their five games, but they started in style against Olympique Marseille. In twenty minutes he was leading 2:0. The French club parted ways with Spanish coach Marcelino the day before the match, mainly due to fan protests, but even without him, they managed to equalize within eighteen minutes and managed it even after Ajax’s third goal.
European Football League – 1st round of groups:
Group A:
West Ham – Bačka Topola 3:1 (0:0)
Goals: 66. own Petrovič, 70. Kudus, 83. Souček – 48. Stanič.
Olympiakos Piraeus – Freiburg 2:3 (1:2)
Goals: 40. and 75. Kábi – 9. Sallai, 45.+6 Grifo from pen., 86. Philipp.
1. West Ham 1 1 0 0 3:1 3 2. Freiburg 1 1 0 0 3:2 3 3. Olympiakos Piraeus 1 0 0 1 2:3 0 4. Bačka Topola 1 0 0 1 1:3 0
Group B
Brighton – AEK Athens 2:3 (1:2)
Goals: 30. and 66. Joao Pedro both from pens. – 11. Sidibe, 40. Gačinović, 84. Ponce.
Ajax Amsterdam – Olympique Marseille 3:3 (2:2)
Goals: 9. Borges, 20. Berghuis, 52. Taylor – 8. and 78. Aubameyang, 23. Claus. ČK: 90.+1 Vos (Ajax).
1. AEK Athens 1 1 0 0 3:2 3 2. Ajax Amsterdam 1 0 1 0 3:3 1 Marseille 1 0 1 0 3:3 1 4. Brighton 1 0 0 1 2:3 0
Group C:
Sparta Praha – Aris Limassol 3:2 (2:1)
Goals: 20. and 25. Krejčí, 67. Vitík – 11. Kokorin z pen., 90. Babicka.
Glasgow Rangers – Betis Sevilla 1:0 (0:0)
Branka: 68. Sima.
1. Sparta Praha 1 1 0 0 3:2 3 2. Glasgow Rangers 1 1 0 0 1:0 3 3. Aris Limassol 1 0 0 1 2:3 0 4. Betis Sevilla 1 0 0 1 0:1 0
Group D
Bergamo – Czestochowa 2:0 (0:0)
Goals: 49. De Katelaere, 67. Ederson.
Sturm Hradec – Sporting Lisbon 1:2 (0:0)
Branky: 58. Boving – 76. Gyokeres, 84. Diomande.
1. Bergamo 1 1 0 0 2:0 3 2. Sporting Lisbon 1 1 0 0 2:1 3 3. Štyrský Hradec 1 0 0 1 1:2 0 4. Czenstochová 1 0 0 1 0:2 0
Group E:
Saint-Gilloise – Toulouse 1:1 (0:1)
Goals: 70. Amoura – 45. +3 Dallinga from pen. ČK: 90.+4 Costa (Toulouse).
LASK Linec – Liverpool 1:3 (1:0)
Goals: 14. Flecker – 56. Núnez from pen., 63. Diaz, 88. Salah.
1.
Liverpool
1
1
0
0
3:1
3
2.
Saint-Gilloise
1
0
1
0
1:1
1
Toulouse
1
0
1
0
1:1
1
4.
Linec
1
0
0
1
1:3
0
Group F:
Panathinaikos Athens – Villarreal 2:0 (1:0)
Goals: 38. Ioannidis, 78. Sporar.
Rennes – Maccabi Haifa 3:0 (2:0)
Goals: 2. Blas, 31. Truffert, 56. Yildirim.
1. Rennes 1 1 0 0 3:0 3 2. Panathinaikos Athens 1 1 0 0 2:0 3 3. Villarreal 1 0 0 1 0:2 0 4. Maccabi Haifa 1 0 0 1 0:3 0
Group G:
Servette Geneva – Slavia Prague 0:2 (0:1)
Goals: 32. Masopust, 59. Ogbu.
Sheriff Tiraspol – AS Rome 1:2 (0:1)
Goals: 57. Tovar – 45.+4 Paredes, 65. Lukaku. ČK: 90.+8. Joao Paulo (Sheriff).
1. Slavia Prague 1 1 0 0 2:0 3 2. AS Rome 1 1 0 0 2:1 3 3. Sheriff Tiraspol 1 0 0 1 1:2 0 4. Servette Geneva 1 0 0 1 0:2 0
Group H:
Karabakh – Molde 1:0 (0:0)
Branka: 56. Andrade.
Bayer Leverkusen – Häcken 4:0 (2:0)
Goals: 10. Wirtz, 16. Adli, 66. Boniface, 70. Hofmann.
1. Leverkusen 1 1 0 0 4:0 3 2. Karabach 1 1 0 0 1:0 3 3. Molde 1 0 0 1 0:1 0 4. Hecken 1 0 0 1 0:4 0
