Manchester United on Thursday failed to usurp Real Sociedad at the top of UEFA Europa League Group E despite a 1-0 win in San Sebastian, while Arsenal did secure their place in the last 16.
United now face a tricky playoff against one of the sides dropping down to the Europa League from the UEFA Champions League in February, with Barcelona and Juventus potential opponents.
Alejandro Garnacho scored the only goal of the night at the Reale Arena after just 17 minutes to surpass George Best as United’s youngest ever non-English scorer in Europe at 18, but the Red Devils were left to rue their defeat to the Spaniards at Old Trafford as they missed out on topping the group on goal-difference.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“You don’t always get what you deserve — that’s football,” United manager Erik ten Hag said. “We win today, but of course we are disappointed we didn’t score two goals because that is what we needed.”
Arsenal did not make the same mistake as a 1-0 win over Zurich was enough to hold off PSV Eindhoven to win Group A, but Mikel Arteta’s men were made to work for the three points after Kieran Tierney’s early strike put them in front.
Arteta was forced to turn to his bench in the second half with Bukayo Saka and Thomas Partey risked, despite a trip to Chelsea tomorrow for the English Premier League leaders.
The Gunners had a close escape when Adrian Guerrero fired home for the Swiss champions, only to be flagged offside.
AS Roma won their showdown with Ludogorets Razgrad to progress to the playoff round thanks to a second-half fightback in the Italian capital.
The inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League winners were heading back to that competition when the Bulgarians led 1-0 at halftime, but two Lorenzo Pellegrini penalties and a late goal from Nicolo Zaniolo took Jose Mourinho’s men through.
Feyenoord and Midtjylland progressed from an incredibly tight Group F that saw all four sides end on eight points.
The Dutch giants beat SS Lazio 1-0 in Rotterdam thanks to Santiago Gimenez’s goal.
Midtjylland beat Sturm Graz 2-0 courtesy of Anders Dreyer’s brace.
Union Berlin, Nantes and AS Monaco also claimed playoff spots.
Arsenal and Sociedad are joined by Fenerbahce, Real Betis Balompie, Union Saint-Gilloise, Feyenoord, SC Freiburg and Ferencvaros in progressing directly to the last 16.
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang