The Europa League returned tonight for its third round of fixtures, with several interesting clashes taking place across the continent.
Mourinho sent off as Man Utd draw with Fenerbahçe
Scorers: En-Nesyri 49′; Eriksen 15′
Manchester United’s winless run in this season’s Europa League continued with a 1-1 draw away to Fenerbahçe.
Fenerbahçe dominated possession in the early stages, with United struggling to get any control.
However, Erik ten Hag’s side took the lead with their very first foray forward. Some neat build up from Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee eventually saw the ball laid off for Christian Eriksen to brilliantly smash home from the edge of the box.
Marcus Rashford almost got a second before Fener came inches away from an equaliser. A long ball forward saw Sebastian Szymański pull the ball back, and Manuel Ugarted bailed out his side with a brilliant sliding block.
André Onana pulled off a stunning double save in the 37th minute, both from point blank range, to keep United ahead.
Fener equalised four minutes into the second half through Youssef En-Nesyri. The former Sevilla man, who scored twice against United in the 2023 quarter-final, nodded home Allan Saint-Maximin’s brilliant inswinging cross.
José Mourinho was then harshly sent off against his old side for his reaction after Fener were denied what would have been a very soft penalty.
Rasmus Højlund, off the bench, had a good chance to put United back into the lead with 15 minutes to go, but he put his shot too close to the keeper after doing well to fashion an opening, as did Alejandro Garnacho shortly after.
United could not get a winner though, and once again ended up drawing a game they led in Europe.
Tottenham make it three wins from three
Scorers: Richarlison (pen) 53′
Tottenham continued their 100% record in Europe this season with a narrow 1-0 home win against AZ.
Unsurprisingly, Spurs dominated possession in the opening 25 minutes but struggled to make any chances outside of an early Mikey Moore effort.
Timo Werner missed a great chance to give his side the lead around the half hour mark, sidefooting the ball straight at Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro.
AZ might have taken the lead before half-time but for some excellent keeping from Fraser Forster.
Spurs eventually took the lead in the 53rd minute, Richarlison scoring a panenka from the spot after Lucas Bergvall was taken down, and that proved enough to make it three wins from three.
Four-star Rangers smash FCSB
Scorers: Lawrence 12′, Černý 31′, 55′ Igamane 73′
Rangers got their second win of this season’s Europa League with a dominant 4-0 win against FCSB at Ibrox.
They took the lead after 12 minutes through Tom Lawrence. The midfielder struck into the bottom corner after Václav Černý pulled the ball back to him on the edge of the box.
The Czech winger then got a goal of his own, with a brilliant curled effort from just outside the box in the 31st minute.
Černý got a second 10 minutes into the second half, firing home with another excellent finish, before Hamza Igamane got Rangers’ fourth with 17 minutes to go to put the seal on a brilliant night for Phillipe Clement’s side.
Dovbyk does the business against his countrymen
Scorers: Dovybk (pen) 23′
Artem Dovbyk’s first-half penalty was the difference at the Stadio Olimpico as Roma beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0.
The Ukrainian international coolly sent Ruslan Nescheret the wrong way from 12 yards in the 23rd minute to seal all three points for his side against many of his national team colleagues.
Roma could, and probably should, have scored several more goals, and avoided a cagey end to the game, but held out for the win.
It was a much-welcomed first in this season’s competition, as Ivan Jurić looks to turn around the club’s poor start to the campaign.
Ajax see off 9-man Qarabağ
Scorers: Taylor 36′, Weghorst (pen) 74′, Akpom 77′
Ajax went top of the Europa League “league phase” for at least a few hours with a 3-0 win away to 10-man Qarabağ.
The game’s pivotal moment came after just 15 minutes when Júlio Romão took down Mika Godts. As he was the last man and denied a goal scoring opportunity, the Qarabağ defender was sent off.
Ajax made the man advantage count before half time, Kenneth Taylor tapping home from close range after Wout Weghorst’s cross-cum-shot found its way to him.
The Eredivisie giants sealed the three points late on with Weghorst slotting home a penalty, making it three games in a row in which he has scored, and Chuba Akpom finishing well on the counter attack.
Qarabağ ended the game with nine men, after Elvin Cafarguliyev was dismissed for a second yellow, marking a terrible night for the Azerbaijan champions.