This is the first season of a completely new version of the Europa League. The second most prestigious competition on the Old Continent takes place not in the group stage format, but in the so-called league stage. Instead of the classic division into groups of four teams, there is one table, which is created on the basis of all the results. Teams ranked 1-8 will advance directly to the 1/8 finals, teams ranked 9-24 will compete in the play-offs, and those ranked 25-36 will be eliminated from the tournament.
Shameful Roma series. Zalewski is out again
This week's Europa League excitement started on Tuesday and Wednesday. Fans saw the matches in Istanbul. First, Galatasaray drew with Dynamo Kiev (3:3), and then Besiktas – in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's debut – defeated Athletic Bilbao (4:1).
The remaining 16 matches were traditionally played in two one-hour blocks on Thursdays. AS Roma stopped their streak of six matches undefeated and lost away to AZ Alkmaar 0:1. Troy Parrott scored the three-point goal.
Claudio Ranieri did not use the services of Nicola Zalewski for the second time in a row. Representative Polish whole match spent on the bench. It is worth adding that Roma continues its inglorious streak. The Romans have not won a single away match this season.
Tottenham, which is doing very poorly in the Premier League, had no problems winning the delegation. Ange Postecoglu's players were leading 2-0 against Hoffenheim after just 22 minutes. James Maddison and Heung-min Son scored the goals. The Korean added one more goal in the second half. Goals by Anton Stach and David Ntusu were of no use.
Fenerbahce, with Sebastian SzymaÅ„ski in the squad – he played the full match – did not manage to follow in the footsteps of Besiktas at their own stadium. Jose Mourinho's men drew goalless with Lyon. The matches between Malmoe and Twente Enschede, as well as between Karabakh Agdam and FCSB, provided a lot of emotions. In both matches, fans saw five goals each.
A bizarre own goal in the United match. Ajax's disgrace
At 9:00 p.m. Manchester United entered the game, which – like Tottenham – is scoring significantly below expectations in the English league. Ruben Amorim's team took on Rangers and could have taken the lead in the 23rd minute. However, Matthijs de Ligt's goal was canceled out. The referee ruled that in this situation there was a foul by a United player in the Rangers penalty area. The legend of the Old Trafford club did not like this decision. “Never a foul” – this is how Rio Ferdinand commented on the website X.
In the second half, Manchester United seemed to have turned the tide in their favor. With an unfortunate intervention, the visiting goalkeeper Jack Butland put the ball into his own net. However, the hosts did not maintain concentration in the end. Cyriel Dessers defeated Bayindir with a strong shot. However, the last word belonged to the hosts. Already in added time, captain Bruno Fernandes saved three points for United.
They also added three points in Frankfurt, and the highlight of the clash between Eintracht and Ferencvaros was a goal by Can Uzun.
Lazio won confidently, defeating Real Sociedad. Another appearance in the Europa League was made by Polish defender Tomasz Kędziora (90 minutes). His PAOK Thessaloniki won against Slavia Prague 2-0 at home. Midtjylland, with Adam Buksa (90 minutes) in the squad, but without his goal contribution, defeated Ludogorets Razgrad in the delegation. Jakub Piotrowski received a yellow card in the Bulgarian team (90 minutes).
Ajax Amsterdam suffered a real embarrassment when it lost away to Latvian RFS, conceding a goal in the 78th minute.
Full results of Thursday's matches in the 7th round of the Europa League:
- AZ Alkmaar 1-0 AS Roma
- Bodo/Glimt 3:1 Maccabi Tel-Aviv
- FC Porto 0-1 Olympiacos Piraeus
- Viktoria Plzeň 2-0 Anderlecht Brussels
- Fenerbahce 0-0 Olympique Lyonnais
- Karabakh Agdam 2:3 FCSB
- Malmoe 2:3 Twente Enschede
- Hoffenheim 2-3 Tottenham
- Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 Ferencvaros
- Elfsborg 1-0 Nice
- Lazio 3-1 Real Sociedad
- Ludogorets Razgrad 0:2 Midtjylland
- Manchester United 2-1 Rangers
- PAOK 2-0 Slavia Prague
- RFS 1-0 Ajax Amsterdam
- Royale Union Saint-Gilloise 2-1 Sporting Braga