Brighton and Aston Villa suffer thrilling opening night defeats
Brighton and Aston Villa fell to thrilling yet crushing defeats to quell the celebratory atmosphere around their respective Europa League and Europa Conference League qualifications.
Villa were supposed to be celebrating their first European night in 13 years and Unai Emery’s 100th game in continental competition, yet fell 3-2 to Legia Warsaw in Poland.
They conceded after just three minutes as Pawel Wszolek finished a low cross, and never regained control in an uncharacteristically sloppy defensive performance.
Jhon Duran equalised shortly after, but Legia winger Ernest Muci scored either side of Lucas Digne’s deflected strike to ensure Villa returned to England empty-handed.
Meanwhile, Brighton conceded two set-piece goals and a breakaway finish to end their first ever European tie with a 3-2 loss, despite two penalties from Joao Pedro.
The Seagulls’ record signing was fouled for both spot-kicks, which were awarded by VAR after some poor refereeing decisions.
Europa League matchday one results
- Rennes 3-0 Maccabi Haifa
- LASK 1-3 Liverpool
- Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 BK Hacken
- Qarabag 1-0 Molde
- Servette 0-2 Slavia Praha
- Sheriff Tiraspol 1-2 Roma
- Panathinaikos 2-0 Villarreal
- Union Saint-Gilloise 1-1 Toulouse
- Atalanta 2-0 Rakow Czestochowa
- Sturm Graz 1-2 Sporting
- Ajax 3-3 Marseille
- Rangers 1-0 Real Betis
- Olympiacos 2-3 Freiburg
- Brighton 2-3 AEK Athens
- Sparta Prague 3-2 Aris Limassol
- West Ham 3-1 Backa Topola
But West Ham, a goal down themselves shortly after half-time, recovered to beat Serbian side Backa Topola 3-1, a game which included a first Hammers goal for Mohammed Kudus.
The Ghanaian, a £38m signing from Ajax, scored the winner, while a Nemanja Petrovic own goal and a Tomas Soucek header from James Ward-Prowse’s corner ensured David Moyes’s side collected all three points.
Liverpool also rallied from a goal down to Austrian side LASK to win 3-1 thanks to a Darwin Nunez penalty and smart finishes from Luis Diaz and Mo Salah.
They went a goal down after 14 minutes to a stunningly executed set-piece move driven home by winger Florian Flecker having made 11 changes to their side, but came from behind for the fourth time in five games.
Europa Conference League matchday one results
- Lille 2-0 Olimpija
- Ferencvaros 3-1 Cukaricki
- HJK Helsinki 2-3 PAOK
- Genk 2-2 Fiorentina
- Legia Warsaw 3-2 Aston Villa
- Zrinjski 4-3 AZ Alkmaar
- Fenerbahce 3-1 Nordsjaelland
- Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Aberdeen
- Ludogorets 4-0 Spartak Trnava
- Slovan Bratislava 2-1 KI
- Lugano 0-0 Bodo/ Glimt
- Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 Astana
- Maccabi Tel-Aviv 3-2 Breidablik
- Club Brugge 1-1 Besiktas
- Zorya Luhansk 1-1 Gent
- Viktoria Plzen 1-0 Ballkani
And 2022 Europa League finalists Rangers celebrated their return to Europe’s second tier with a hard-fought win over Real Betis at Ibrox.
Abdallah Sima’s 67th-minute close-range finish gave Michael Beale’s side a deserved win over a Betis side who are also struggling domestically, currently 10th in La Liga.
Meanwhile Aberdeen, who still have not won a Scottish Premiership game so far this season, held their own against 2022 Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa Conference League.
Dante Polvara finished off a superb team move which will raise the Dons’ confidence, but could not get past a strong Frankfurt side.
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