English Premier League Fulham reached the Europa League play-off round on Thursday, where they were joined by free-scoring AS Roma and Galatasary.
Andrew Johnson scored twice to add to Dickson Etuhu’s opener as Fulham saw off Vetra of Lithuania 3-0 for a 6-0 aggregate win in their third qualifying round, second-leg clash at Craven Cottage.
“We were good value for our three goals, as we were in the first leg,” Fulham coach Roy Hodgson said. “I am pleased with our attitude, pleased with the quality of our play and pleased with our passing.”
PHOTO: EPA
Galatasary of Turkey, coached by former Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard, crushed Israel’s Maccabi Netanya 6-1 for a 10-1 aggregate score, with Congo striker Shabani Nonda grabbing a hat-trick.
Veteran striker Francesco Totti, who scored twice in the first leg, also claimed a hat-trick as AS Roma beat AA Gent 7-1 in Belgium for a 10-2 aggregate.
Dejan Lekic was another hat-trick star as 1991 European champions Red Star Belgrade overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to beat Georgia’s Dinamo Tbilisi 5-2 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate.
Lekic completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute, just when 1981 Cup Winners Cup champions Dinamo were in sight of an away goals victory.
In a fiercely-contested tie, where the Georgians had led 4-1 on aggregate at one stage, both sides finished with 10 men.
Scotland suffered a double dose of misery.
Mark McGhee’s Aberdeen, humiliated 5-1 at home by Sigma Olomouc in the first leg, slumped to a 3-0 defeat in the return tie in the Czech Republic for an embarrassing 8-1 aggregate exit.
Tomas Janotka, Marek Kascak, with a penalty, and Michal Hubnik scored the goals in the first half. Steaua Bucharest, the 1986 European champions, defeated Motherwell 3-1 for a 6-1 aggregate victory.
“We had two clear penalty shouts and were disappointed not to get the second goal. The belief would have come from that,” Motherwell manager Jim Gannon said. “I knew the second goal would be critical. If we got it, the mood and atmosphere in the stadium would change in our favor, but, if they got it, it would have been the opposite.”
There will be no European adventure this season for 37-year-old former Celtic, Manchester United and Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson, whose Helsingborgs IF side lost on penalties to Sarajevo.
Larsson was forced to miss Thursday’s tie after breaking a kneecap in the first leg in Sweden.
The 35 third qualifying round winners go into the play-off draw where they will be joined by the 15 losers from the Champions League final qualifiers, as well as 26 other leading sides which include the likes of Everton, Aston Villa, Werder Bremen, Valencia, Lazio and Ajax.
The winners of the 38 play-off ties will be joined by the losers of the 10 Champions League play-offs in the group stages of the tournament.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care. The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them. Valverde is going to miss today’s Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks. Tchouameni took part in training on Friday and could feature at Camp
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