Five-time UEFA Europa League champions Sevilla look set for another assault on the competition after Pablo Sarabia’s solitary goal on Thursday earned them a 1-0 away win to Sigma Olomouc in the first leg of their playoff.
Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers are also well-placed to make the group stages, but Burnley’s first European adventure in 51 years looks likely to come to an end next week after they lost 3-1 away to Greek giants Olympiakos.
New Sevilla boss Pablo Machin left Andre Silva, hat-trick hero in Sunday’s 4-1 win at Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, on the bench, but Silva came on to make a vital contribution with a defense-splitting pass that Sarabia prodded into the top corner six minutes from time.
Burnley’s faltering start to the season domestically and in Europe continued as they paid a heavy price for the sending-off of Ben Gibson on just his second appearance for the club.
The former Middlesbrough defender was shown a second yellow card for a handball that resulted in Kostas Fortounis scoring Olympiakos’ third from the penalty spot on the hour mark.
Chris Wood had canceled out Fortounis’ opener before Andreas Bouchalakis restored Olympiakos’ lead.
Celtic’s quest to put their UEFA Champions League elimination at the hands of AEK Athens behind them got off to the perfect start against Suduva in Lithuania when Olivier Ntcham headed home on three minutes.
However, manager Brendan Rodgers bemoaned more woeful defending to allow Ovidijus Verbickas to head home an equalizer 10 minutes later in a 1-1 draw.
“We gave away a soft goal. That is a real, real concern now,” Rodgers said. “We are not giving away many chances, but we don’t defend the set piece well enough.”
Across Glasgow, Steven Gerrard has no such worries as the Rangers registered a sixth clean sheet in 10 games under the former Liverpool captain in a 1-0 win over Russia’s Ufa.
One of Gerrard’s centerbacks even got a solitary goal at Ibrox, as Connor Goldson smashed home from close range.
Zenit St Petersburg took a commanding 3-1 lead into their second leg against Norwegian side Molde, with one of Russia’s FIFA World Cup heroes Artem Dzyuba inspiring a late comeback from 1-0 down in the final 20 minutes.
Basel edged a five-goal thriller over Apollon Limassol to take a 3-2 lead to Cyprus next week thanks to a double from Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
RB Leipzig still have work to do in Germany in the second leg after a 0-0 draw in Ukraine against Zorya.
APOEL Nicosia and Ludogorets Razgrad secured narrow 1-0 first-leg leads over Kazak champions Astana and Torpedo Kutaisi of Georgia respectively.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two