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Tag: Europa

  • Europa: Iheanacho shines as Leicester thrash Braga

    Europa: Iheanacho shines as Leicester thrash Braga

    Kelechi Iheanacho scored twice as Leicester City secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Braga on Thursday.

    The Nigerian scored on either side of half-time and almost completed his hat-trick, only to be denied by Braga goalkeeper Matheus.

    Iheanacho then turned provider when his square pass found Dennis Praet to score from close range.

    James Maddison, who set up Iheanacho’s first goal, made it four for the hosts with a brilliant solo goal.

    The Foxes have an 100% record after three matches and sit top of Group D.

    Brendan Rodgers’ side next face Wolves on Sunday ahead of next week’s international break.

  • Europa: Tottenham suffer historic loss against Antwerp

    Europa: Tottenham suffer historic loss against Antwerp

    Premier League side Tottenham were left disappointed in their Europa League tie against Antwerp.

    They stumbled to a 1 – 0 defeat against the Belgian club.

    Despite being the dominant side, the Spurs looked fatigued as they failed to register a shot on target in the entire second half. Their last attempt on goal came in the 19th minute.

    Their loss also marks them as the first English clubs to lose in a European club competition this season as Antwerp claim their first win against an English opposition for the first time since 1975.

    Antwerp scored their lone goal early after Lior Refaelov found the net in the 29th minute. Tottenham trailed the hosts from that moment and could not find the back of the net until the final whistle.

    They sit second in Group J with 3 points they claimed in their opening match against LASK.

  • Europa: Victor Osimhen sees first career red in Napoli win

    Europa: Victor Osimhen sees first career red in Napoli win

    Victor Osimhen was shown a red card after two bookable offences in Napoli’s 1-0 triumph over Real Sociedad in Thursday’s Europa League clash.

    The Super Eagles striker received a first red in his footballing career in the third minute of added time.

    He had initially picked his first yellow in the 81st minute.

    He then picked another ten minutes later, after elbowing Robin Le Normand while trying to control David Ospina’s goal kick.

    The 21-year-old record signing came on as a second-half substitute for Gennaro Gattuso’s side, as a Matteo Politano lone goal sealed the win for the Partenopei.

    Osimhen will now miss next week’s clash with Rijeka.

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  • Arteta responds to Ozil’s Twitter comments after Europa win

    Arteta responds to Ozil’s Twitter comments after Europa win

    Mikel Arteta says he was pleased to hear Mesut Ozil had been supporting Arsenal from afar during their 2-1 win over Rapid Vienna on Thursday.

    Ozil did not travel with his Gunners team-mates as Arteta left him out of his squads for both the Europa League and the Premier League.

    The 32-year-old has not played for Arsenal since football returned from coronavirus lockdown but has been at the centre of attention regardless, with speculation around his future rife.

    Ozil criticised Arsenal after being left out of Arteta’s squads, noting that “loyalty is hard to come by” in football in a public message.

    Before kick-off against Vienna, though, he wrote on Twitter that he would be supporting his team-mates from afar, predicting a 4-1 Gunners win. Ozil continued tweeting throughout the game, and celebrated their victory with a Man of the Match poll.

    Arteta was made aware of the tweets after the game and commented: “It’s great. It’s what I want from all the players that are in our squad, I wouldn’t expect anything different – so it’s good to hear.”

    The Spaniard was also asked whether he was frustrated at the amount of media coverage surrounding a player who hasn’t been on the pitch.

    “No, it’s part of the situation we have and we have big players in this position it’s normal that people want to know, that fans want to have information and you guys want to ask the questions,” he replied.

    “So I take it in a natural way and try to respond with honesty and clarity and give the information that is available from the inside.”

    Goal

  • Arsenal to terminate Ozil contract after Europa snub

    Arsenal to terminate Ozil contract after Europa snub

    Arsenal are planning a new attempt to terminate the contract of midfielder, Mesut Ozil.

    The Daily Mail says the Gunners are to re-open talks with Ozil ahead of the January transfer window over ending his £350,000-per-week contract early.

    The Gunners, it is understood, approached Ozil about reaching a settlement agreement for the final nine months of his contract over the past fortnight but the attempts proved unsuccessful.

    Ozil is said to want virtually all the remaining £13million on his deal.

    The Gunners are ready to make another offer to the World Cup winner with a view to removing him from their wage bill in January.

    The prospect of Ozil playing much first-team football before then looks remote.

    UEFA have already confirmed the German’s omission from Arsenal’s Europa League squad while Ozil is expected to be left out of the club’s 25-man Premier League party.

  • Arteta axe Mesut Ozil from Europa League squad

    Arteta axe Mesut Ozil from Europa League squad

    Mesut Ozil has been left out of Arsenal’s 25-man squad for the Europa League group stages.

    The club’s highest earning player – who pockets £350,000 ($454,000) a week – is one of two senior players who has been cut by boss Mikel Arteta, whose 25-man squad for the competition is only allowed to include 17 ‘non locally trained players’.

    With 19 to choose from, however, Arteta has had to decide which two he would not involve – and Ozil, along with defender Sokratis, has been left out.

  • Lukaku named Europa League player of the season

    Lukaku named Europa League player of the season

    Belgian Romelu Lukaku has been named the Europa League player of the 2019/2020 season after the forward helped Italian side Inter Milan to the final with goals in every knockout round.

    Lukaku, who revived his career in Italy with 34 goals in all competitions in his first season at the club, scored seven times in the Europa League in six matches.

    This was after Inter Milan dropped down from the UEFA Champions League into the second tier competition.

    Inter Milan lost the final match 2-3 to Sevilla of Spain in August, but the 27-year-old forward had done enough to sway the vote in his favour with 270 points.

    He beat Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (128) and Sevilla’s Ever Banega (118) to claim the prize.

    “First of all, I will like to congratulate Sevilla personally for having won the final tournament,” Lukaku said in a pre-recorded message after the announcement was made during the Europa League draw.

    “I want to thank my family and my agents for their support. I also want to thank my coach and the club staff, the board, and the president for their trust and for helping me throughout this season.

    “Most importantly, I want to thank my team mates, who have been great with me from the first day I joined. They’ve been like brothers to me… Every day I come to training, I come with a smile… they make me want to work harder.”

    The vote was made by a jury comprised of coaches from the 48 clubs which participated in the group stages and 55 journalists.

    Inter Milan are back in the UEFA Champions League again this season, where they were drawn in Group B alongside 13-times champions Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Moenchengladbach.

  • No time for Spurs to cry, Europa League awaits – Moura

    No time for Spurs to cry, Europa League awaits – Moura

    Tottenham Hotspur’s Lucas Moura says they must quickly overcome the disappointment of Sunday’s 1-0 English Premier League (EPL) defeat by Everton.

    The Brazilian forward said they must therefore show their quality against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the UEFA Europa League this week.

    Jose Mourinho’s side visit the Bulgarian Super Cup winners in Europe’s second-tier club competition on Thursday, with the winners of the one-off tie advancing to the third qualifying round.

    “It’s only one game and if we lose, it’s bye-bye,” Moura told Spurs’ website.

    “We need to go there with the right mentality, very strong in our minds and go there to qualify, because it’s a competition we want to win, and we have the quality to win.”

    The Brazilian said the defeat by Everton had left his team mates feeling deflated.

    “The players are upset because we know how important this game was,” he said. “The first game of the season and it’s so important to start well, to start with three points.

    “We need to look forward now and try to do better.

    “We don’t have time to cry. We have another important game … and we need to be ready.”

  • Europa: Substitute Jota scores 11-minute hat trick in Wolves victory

    Wolves were denied top spot in their Europa League group, despite substitute Diogo Jota’s 11-minute hat-trick inspiring victory over Besiktas.

    After a drab first half, Jota came on as a 56th-minute substitute and headed in 72 seconds later to lift Molineux.

    He added a second six minutes later, reacting sharply to turn in when Leander Dendoncker’s shot hit the post before the Belgian headed in a third.

    Jota fired in a fourth but Braga won 4-2 at Slovan Bratislava to top Group K.

    The Portuguese side, who would not have topped the group if they failed to win after Wolves took control against Besiktas, were trailing 2-1 after 70 minutes before turning the match back in their favour.

    Wolves were already assured of progressing whatever happened in the final round of group matches and go into Monday’s draw for the knockout stage as one of the 12 runners-up.

  • Europa: Pepe scores last minute free-kick in Arsenal win

    Europa: Pepe scores last minute free-kick in Arsenal win

    Substitute Nicolas Pepe rescued Arsenal with two sublime free-kicks in the last 10 minutes of their Europa League group game against Vitoria Guimaraes at Emirates Stadium.

    Arsenal were losing 2-1 when Pepe came on in the 75th minute and he scored five minutes later with a curling effort from 25 yards.

    He repeated the feat in stoppage time as Arsenal avoided their second straight defeat and retained their place at the top of Group F.

    Former Tottenham youngster Marcus Edwards had earlier cut inside and fired into the bottom corner to give Vitoria a shock lead, before Arsenal’s Brazilian teenager Gabriel Martinelli nodded in his fifth goal in just his third start to make it 1-1.

    Bruno Duarte restored the visitors’ lead on 36 minutes, pouncing on a rebound to send Arsenal into the half-time break a goal behind.

    The Gunners, who were poor for large patches of the game, burst into life in the final 10 minutes as Martinelli was denied from close range before Rob Holding’s header was well held by the goalkeeper.

    Arsenal manager Unai Emery made 10 changes from the side that lost to Sheffield United in the Premier League on Monday but was forced to bring on Matteo Guendouzi and Dani Ceballos at half-time, before Pepe made the difference.