Leicester City and SSC Napoli face an uphill task to reach the UEFA Europa League knockout stages after both fell to shock defeats on Thursday, while Rangers’ 1-0 loss to Sparta Prague was overshadowed by another race row involving Glen Kamara.
A much-changed Leicester went down 1-0 to Legia Warsaw in Poland, while Napoli’s unbeaten record this season was ended by Quincy Promes’ double for Spartak Moscow in a thrilling 3-2 win for the Russians at the Diego Maradona Stadium.
Unlike the Italian side, who top Serie A with a 100 percent record, Leicester have also started poorly in the English Premier League.
Photo: EPA-EFE
With that in mind Brendan Rodgers made wholesale changes ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Crystal Palace and paid a heavy price.
The only goal of a cagey encounter in Warsaw arrived on 31 minutes when Mahir Emreli shrugged off Daniel Amartey, before drilling a low shot through Jannik Vestergaard’s legs and in off the post.
“I’ve made the changes, but it doesn’t take away the importance from it. We have four more games to qualify,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got one point from two games, but there is enough time to do that.”
Napoli got off to a flying start as Elif Elmas struck after just 11 seconds, but Mario Rui’s red card on 29 minutes changed the course of the game.
Promes leveled early in the second half and Mikhail Ignatov put the visitors in front before Maximiliano Caufriez’s dismissal balanced up the numbers.
Another goal from Promes in stoppage-time put the game beyond Napoli, despite Victor Osimhen scoring a late consolation.
Legia top the group on six points, with Spartak on three and the more fancied Leicester and Napoli left on one each.
Rangers’ poor European form also continued as Steven Gerrard’s men were beaten in the Czech capital, where the focus again fell on Kamara.
The Finland international was racially abused by Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela last season, which earned the Czech Republic international a 10-game UEFA ban and saw him miss Euro 2020.
The Letna Stadium was originally meant to be shut for Rangers’ visit following a separate racism charge against Sparta after AS Monaco’s Aurelien Tchouameni was subjected to abuse in August.
UEFA instead agreed to a proposal for the game to go ahead in front of mainly schoolchildren with some accompanying adults, but booing was audible any time Kamara touched the ball.
David Hancko’s first-half headed goal condemned Rangers to a second consecutive defeat in Group A, before Kamara was sent off with 15 minutes remaining for two bookable offenses.
“I’m not surprised. We’re playing behind closed doors, apparently, for a reason,” Gerrard said. “It’s not the first time there have been issues in this place. The powers that be don’t do enough.”
Karl Toko Ekambi scored twice for Olympique Lyonnais as they thrashed Brondby 3-0 to stay top of Group A with maximum points from two games.
Celtic are also without a point after being thrashed 4-0 at home by Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Piero Hincapie and 18-year-old sensation Florian Wirtz gave the German side a commanding halftime lead. Lucas Alario’s penalty and Armine Adil’s stoppage-time strike rounded off the rout.
Real Betis Balompie beat Ferencvaros 3-1 to move level with Leverkusen on six points.
West Ham United also made it two wins from two games with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Rapid Vienna thanks to goals from Declan Rice and Said Benrahma.
In Group B, Real Sociedad and Monaco played out a 1-1 draw, while PSV Eindhoven moved to the top of the group with a 4-1 win at SK Sturm Graz.
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