Stewart Downing ensured that Brendan Rodgers’ first match in charge of Liverpool ended in victory as he scored the only goal against Gomel in a Europa League third qualifying round, first-leg tie in Belarus on Thursday.
Downing’s 25m effort midway through the second half was enough to give the Reds the edge going into the second-leg match at Anfield on Thursday next week.
Gomel dominated most of the game and the Merseysiders were lucky to leave with the win after the hosts missed a string of chances.
Photo: AFP
Also playing under new coaches, French side Olympique de Marseille, under Elie Baup, were held 1-1 at Turkish club Eskisehirspor, while Guus Hiddink’s big-spending Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala won 2-0 at home against Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem.
Andre-Pierre Gignac had put Baup’s side ahead four minutes after the break when he picked up a Morgan Amalfitano cross, but the hosts pulled level after 62 minutes through Austrian striker Atdhe Nuhiu.
Nuhiu almost claimed a second 10 minutes later, but the injury-depleted visitors held on for a draw, with a home leg in their Velodrome Stadium to look forward to on Thursday next week.
“There are lessons to be learnt, but everything remains to be played for,” Baup said. “We have to get to work and refocus. This Turkish team has quality, they are very dangerous. We made too many mistakes for my liking.”
Elsewhere, Romanian side Rapid Bucharest have an uphill task in their home leg after falling 4-0 at Dutch club Heerenveen, as Dynamo Moscow were held 2-2 at Dundee United, with the Scottish club denied a famous win by a deflected injury-time strike.
Keith Watson looked to have earned United the advantage after he bundled home from close range following a 75th-minute corner, but Alexander Kokorin silenced Tannadice with a 25m strike that looped home off a United defender for a 2-2 draw.
Irish side St Patrick’s were staring at Europa League elimination after suffering a 3-0 defeat at home in Dublin to Hannover 96.
Meanwhile, Wesley Sneijder set Inter on their way to a comfortable 3-0 win away at Hajduk Split on Thursday, giving the Serie A side a successful start in their first competitive game of the season.
Dutchman Sneijder rifled Inter ahead after 18 minutes and Japan’s Yuto Nagatomo put them 2-0 up against the Croatian side just before the break.
Brazilian Philippe Coutinho completed the scoring in the second half of the tie.
“It’s a good result but what I liked was the fact that we never stopped trying to play football and we gave very little away,” Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni said.
Inter are hoping to recover from a difficult last season when Stramaccioni, initially given the job on an interim basis, became the third coach to be employed by club president Massimo Moratti.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set