Four-time European champions Ajax on Thursday cruised to a 4-1 victory in Bulgaria in UEFA Europa League qualifying, while Aberdeen returned to the scene of their European triumph and fought back for a draw.
For their Europa League playoff round first leg, Aberdeen went to Gothenburg, where they beat Real Madrid in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup final in 1983, and salvaged a 2-2 draw as Swedish champions Hacken imploded in the final 15 minutes.
A penalty from Ibrahim Sadiq put the hosts two goals up after 69 minutes. Aberdeen’s Bojan Miovski turned his defender and fired home after 75 minutes. The North Macedonian then set up Nicky Devlin, bursting into the penalty area for the rightback’s first Aberdeen goal four minutes later.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Hacken’s Johan Hammar earned a second yellow card for blocking Miovski in the 90th minute. Aberdeen then went close twice and a had a strike ruled out for offside in stoppage-time.
Ghana international Mohammed Kudus scored a hat-trick as Ajax won 4-1 away at Ludogorets in Bulgaria. Brian Brobbey hit the other Ajax goal and defender Olivier Verdon scored a late reply for the hosts.
KI Klaksvik, already sure to become the first Faroese club to secure a place in the group stage of a European competition, drew 1-1 with Moldovan side Sheriff in Torshavn.
Danish defender Patrick da Silva gave the hosts a 52nd-minute lead. Jerome Ngom Mbekeli, who plays as a defender for Cameroon, but as a striker for Sheriff, replied in the 73rd minute.
Last season’s surprise quarter-finalists Royale Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium beat Lugano 2-0.
In the Europa Conference League, Manfred Ugalde gave Twente a 20th-minute lead in Istanbul, but Fenerbahce hit back with a 30th-minute goal by former Twente defender Jayden Oosterwolde. The hosts scored four times in the final 30 minutes to win 5-1.
On a good night for Turkish clubs, Kazakhstan international Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov scored five minutes into stoppage-time to give Besiktas a 3-2 victory over Dynamo Kyiv in Bucharest.
Kolo Muani put Eintracht Frankfurt, the 2021-2022 Europa League winners, ahead away to Levski Sofia, but Hassimi Fadiaga leveled in the dying seconds of five minutes of stoppage-time.
In Lille, France, 17-year-old defender Leny Yoro scored in the 89th minute as Lille OSC fought back for a 2-1 victory over HNK Rijeka of Croatia.
CA Osasuna’s European reprieve might prove short-lived as they lost 2-1 at home to Club Brugge.
The team from Pamplona qualified for Europe for the first time since 2006 only to be banned by UEFA for match-fixing allegations dating back to 2013. Their place was restored by the Court for Arbitration in Sport.
Andreas Skov Olsen gave the Belgian side a 50th-minute lead. Ezeqiuel Avila hit a 78th-minute equalizer, only for Maxim de Cuyper to restore Brugge’s lead two minutes later.
AZ, leading the Dutch league, were held 1-1 at home by Norwegian Cup holders SK Brann.
Chile international Niklas Castro gave the visitors a 59th-minute lead. Centerback Pantelis Chatzidiakos replied 12 minutes later.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
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PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
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