Shola Ameobi, with his 13th European goal, Henrique and Senegal international Papiss Cisse were all on target as Newcastle United cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over French side Girondins de Bordeaux in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
Newcastle lead Group D with four points from two games.
“We were expecting a little more from Bordeaux,” Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye said. “It was important to take the three points, but now it’s just as important to concentrate on our next Premier League game against Manchester United on Sunday.”
Photo: EPA
Tottenham Hotspur, fresh from upstaging Manchester United at Old Trafford last weekend, were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Panathinaikos in Athens.
Spurs were in control of their Group J fixture against a side reeling from the sacking of their captain Kostas Katsouranis after Michael Dawson’s first-half header, but their Greek hosts battled back to scrape an unlikely draw after the break courtesy of Spanish striker Toche.
“There is a sense of disappointment,” said Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas, who won the Europa League with Porto in 2010-2011. “In the second half, we made a lot of mistakes in passing and that let them in the game, but a point away from home is positive.”
Photo: EPA
With SS Lazio beating Slovenian outfit NK Maribor 1-0, missing a penalty in the process, Spurs slipped to third place behind their Serie A rivals who had Ederson to thank for their victory.
Inter scored all their goals in the first half in a 3-1 win at Neftchi of Azerbaijan to leave Andrea Stramaccioni’s side level on four points in Group H with Rubin Kazan, who beat Partizan Belgrade 2-0.
Inter warmed up for Sunday’s city derby with AC Milan with a victory courtesy of goals by Philippe Coutinho, Joel Obi and Marko Livaja.
Photo: Reuters
“Even though there were a lot of changes to the side, Inter put in a really solid first half,” Stramaccioni said. “This group of players is on the way up.”
The only dampener on the night for Serie A clubs was SSC Napoli’s 3-0 loss at PSV Eindhoven. That result ceded top spot in Group F to Dnipro, who won 3-2 at Sweden’s AIK, and it came as a surprise given a 4-0 win over AIK by Walter Mazzarri’s side two weeks ago and their strong start to Serie A, where they are unbeaten in second place.
Elsewhere, Cristian Rodriguez grabbed a stoppage-time winner for Atletico Madrid in a 1-0 victory over Viktoria Plzen, the defending champions’ second straight triumph in Group B.
French club Olympique Lyonnais also left it late to beat Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona 4-3 in a thrilling match in Israel, with Gueida Fofana scoring a stoppage-time winner.
However, there was no end to the woes of Athletic Bilbao, last season’s beaten finalists, who lost 3-1 to Sparta Prague to slump to the bottom of Group I. Bilbao are also in the relegation zone in La Liga.
In other results, France forward Loic Remy scored twice in Group C leaders Olympique de Marseille’s 5-1 thrashing of Cypriots AEL, while Hannover 96 beat Levante UD 2-1, despite playing with 10 men for 80 minutes.
In another surprising result, unheralded Hungarian side Videoton swept past Portugal’s Sporting 3-0 in Group G.
Anzhi Makhachkala are level on four points with Udinese at the top of Group A thanks to a 2-0 win over Switzerland’s BSC Young Boys, courtesy of a brace by veteran Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Thursday’s other results:
‧ Academica 1, Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1
‧ Borussia Moenchengladbach 2,
Fenerbahce 4
‧ Club Brugge 2, CS Maritimo 0
‧ Molde FK 2, VfB Stuttgart 0
‧ Steaua Bucharest 1,
Copenhagen 0
‧ Basel 2, KRC Genk 2
‧ Metalist Kharkiv 2,
Rapid Vienna 0
‧ Rosenborg 0,
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1
‧ Helsingborgs 2, Twente 2
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