West Ham United on Thursday shrugged off their dismal English Premier League start to ease into the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage with a 6-1 aggregate rout of Viborg FF in their playoff.
Already 3-0 up from last week’s first leg in London, West Ham secured victory with striker Gianluca Scamacca, Algeria international Said Benrahma and Czech Republic star Tomas Soucek on target in Denmark.
The English side were barely threatened, but goalkeeper Alphonse Areola had to be alert with a double save to keep out Jay-Roy Grot and Justin Lonwijk.
Photo: AP
“It’s massive for us to be in the group stage. We’re fighting every year to get European football for our people and we couldn’t miss this opportunity,” Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals told the club’s Web site. “We knew that coming here the atmosphere would be tough, and it wasn’t easy to come here and play against a crowd that probably knew it was hard to qualify, but were still here to support their team with everything. It wasn’t easy.”
“Viborg were a very good team too. They had really good players with qualities. The throw-ins from the left were difficult to defend and they had a big forward too,” he said.
The Irons went into yesterday’s draw for the group stage, but would then turn their attention to resuscitating their Premier League campaign.
They are currently bottom of the table having lost all three of their opening games without scoring a goal.
Villarreal, who were Europa League champions in 2020-2021, also made the group stage with a 2-0 win at Hajduk Split for a 6-2 aggregate triumph.
Alfonso Pedraza and Samuel Chukwueze scored the goals for the Spanish side, who made the UEFA Champions League semi-finals last season.
In the UEFA Europa League, Heart of Midlothian were beaten 1-0 at home by Swiss champions Zurich, who went through 3-1 on aggregate.
Fabian Rohner scored the only goal of the second leg as the Scottish side were left to regret a red card handed out to midfielder Jorge Grant 10 minutes into the second half.
Despite the defeat, Hearts’ European adventure is not over as they now drop into the Europa Conference League group stage instead.
PFC Ludogorets of Bulgaria needed a last-gasp extra-time penalty by Olivier Verdon to secure a 3-3 draw and a 4-3 aggregate win over Zalgiris in Lithuania after trailing three times on the night.
Fenerbahce were the night’s biggest winners, a 4-1 victory over Austria Vienna giving the Turkish side a 6-1 win over two legs.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS