The Europa League kicked off this week as Real Betis and Napoli mounted memorable comebacks from two goals down while there were winning starts for Galatasaray, West Ham and Lyon.
The big match was in England where Leicester City hosted Napoli. Ayoze Pérez finished a superb team move to put Leicester ahead and Harvey Barnes added a second. However, Victor Osimhen scored a brilliant first before thumping in a header from Matteo Politano’s cross to earn his side a point, Leicester losing Wilfred Ndidi to a second yellow card in stoppage time.
Rweal Betis continued their record of never being beaten at home in the Europa League as they rallied from 2-0 down to beat Celtic. Josip Juranović’s penalty added to Albian Ajeti’s opener for the visitors, but Juan Miranda and Juanmi had the sides level at half-time. Borja Iglesias and Juanmi then gave the hosts a cushion they held on to, despite Anthony Ralston pulling one back late on.
One of the favorites to go deep in the competition is West Ham United and a goal in either half gave David Moyes’s side a winning start to their first Europa League group campaign. The Hammers dominated in Zagreb but were grateful for two defensive errors for their goals. Michail Antonio pounced on Kévin Théophile-Catherine’s short back pass to slot in the first before Declan Rice marked his 150th Hammers appearance with the second, collecting another misplaced pass and running through to score.
Europa League Matchday 1 results
Group A: Rangers 0-2 Lyon, Brøndby 0-0 Sparta Praha
Group B: PSV Eindhoven 2-2 Real Sociedad, Monaco 1-0 Sturm Graz
Group C: Spartak Moskva 0-1 Legia Warszawa (Wednesday), Leicester 2-2 Napoli
Group D: Olympiacos 2-1 Royal Antwerp, Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Fenerbahçe
Group E: Galatasaray 1-0 Lazio, Lokomotiv Moskva 1-1 Marseille
Group F: Midtjylland 1-1 Ludogorets, Crvena zvezda 2-1 Braga
Group G: Leverkusen 2-1 Ferencváros, Real Betis 4-3 Celtic
Group H: Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 West Ham, Rapid Wien 0-1 Genk
Europa League Fixtures
Matchday 2
Thursday 30 September
Group A: Sparta Praha vs Rangers (18:45 CET), Lyon vs Brøndby (18:45 CET)
Group B: Real Sociedad vs Monaco (18:45 CET), Sturm Graz vs PSV Eindhoven (18:45 CET)
Group C: Legia Warszawa vs Leicester (18:45 CET), Napoli vs Spartak Moskva (18:45 CET)
Group D: Royal Antwerp vs Eintracht Frankfurt (18:45 CET), Fenerbahçe vs Olympiacos (18:45 CET)
Group E: Lazio vs Lokomotiv Moskva (21:00 CET), Marseille vs Galatasaray (21:00 CET)
Group F: Ludogorets vs Crvena zvezda (21:00 CET), Braga vs Midtjylland (21:00 CET)
Group G: Celtic vs Leverkusen (21:00 CET), Ferencváros vs Real Betis (21:00 CET)
Group H: Genk vs GNK Dinamo (21:00 CET), West Ham vs Rapid Wien (21:00 CET)
Matchday 3
Tuesday 19 October
Group G: Celtic vs Ferencváros (16:30 CET))
Wednesday 20 October
Group C: Spartak Moskva vs Leicester (16:30 CET)
Thursday 21 October
Group A: Sparta Praha vs Lyon (21:00 CET), Rangers vs Brøndby (21:00 CET)
Group B: PSV Eindhoven vs Monaco (21:00 CET), Sturm Graz vs Real Sociedad (21:00 CET)
Group C: Napoli vs Legia Warszawa (21:00 CET)
Group D: Fenerbahçe vs Royal Antwerp (18:45 CET), Eintracht Frankfurt vs Olympiacos (21:00 CET)
Group E: Lazio vs Marseille (18:45 CET), Lokomotiv Moskva vs Galatasaray (21:00 CET)
Group F: Ludogorets vs Braga (18:45 CET), Midtjylland vs Crvena zvezda (18:45 CET)
Group G: Real Betis vs Leverkusen (18:45 CET)
Group H: Rapid Wien vs GNK Dinamo (18:45 CET), West Ham vs Genk (21:00 CET)
Matchday 4
Thursday 4 November
Group A: Lyon vs Sparta Praha (18:45 CET), Brøndby vs Rangers (18:45 CET)
Group B: Real Sociedad vs Sturm Graz (18:45 CET), Monaco vs PSV Eindhoven (18:45 CET)
Group C: Legia Warszawa vs Napoli (18:45 CET), Leicester vs Spartak Moskva (21:00 CET)
Group D: Olympiacos vs Eintracht Frankfurt (18:45 CET), Royal Antwerp vs Fenerbahçe (21:00 CET)
Group E: Galatasaray vs Lokomotiv Moskva (18:45 CET), Marseille vs Lazio (21:00 CET)
Group F: Braga vs Ludogorets (21:00 CET), Crvena zvezda vs Midtjylland (21:00 CET)
Group G: Leverkusen vs Real Betis (21:00 CET), Ferencváros vs Celtic (21:00 CET)
Group H: Genk vs West Ham (18:45 CET), GNK Dinamo vs Rapid Wien (21:00 CET)
Matchday 5
Wednesday 24 November
Group C: Spartak Moskva vs Napoli (16:30 CET)
Thursday 25 November
Group A: Rangers vs Sparta Praha (21:00 CET), Brøndby vs Lyon (21:00 CET)
Group B: PSV Eindhoven vs Sturm Graz (21:00 CET), Monaco vs Real Sociedad (21:00 CET)
Group C: Leicester vs Legia Warszawa (21:00 CET)
Group D: Olympiacos vs Fenerbahçe (21:00 CET), Eintracht Frankfurt vs Royal Antwerp (21:00 CET)
Group E: Galatasaray vs Marseille (18:45 CET), Lokomotiv Moskva vs Lazio (18:45 CET)
Group F: Midtjylland vs Braga (18:45 CET), Crvena zvezda vs Ludogorets (18:45 CET)
Group G: Leverkusen vs Celtic (18:45 CET), Real Betis vs Ferencváros (18:45 CET)
Group H: GNK Dinamo vs Genk (18:45 CET), Rapid Wien vs West Ham (18:45 CET)
Matchday 6
Thursday 9 December
Group A: Sparta Praha vs Brøndby (18:45 CET), Lyon vs Rangers (18:45 CET)
Group B: Real Sociedad vs PSV Eindhoven (18:45 CET), Sturm Graz vs Monaco (18:45 CET)
Group C: Legia Warszawa vs Spartak Moskva (18:45 CET), Napoli vs Leicester (18:45 CET)
Group D: Royal Antwerp vs Olympiacos (18:45 CET), Fenerbahçe vs Eintracht Frankfurt (18:45 CET)
Group E: Lazio vs Galatasaray (21:00 CET), Marseille vs Lokomotiv Moskva (21:00 CET)
Group F: Ludogorets vs Midtjylland (21:00 CET), Braga vs Crvena zvezda (21:00 CET)
Group G: Celtic vs Real Betis (21:00 CET), Ferencváros vs Leverkusen (21:00 CET)
Group H: Genk vs Rapid Wien (21:00 CET), West Ham vs GNK Dinamo (21:00 CET)
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