England’s West Ham United topped its first group in the European Football League (Europa League), thanks to its difficult 1-0 victory over its Greek guest, Olympiacos, while Germany’s Freiburg swept its Serbian guest, Bačka Topola, 5-0.
West Ham raised its score to 9 points in first place, on goal difference against Freiburg, the second-placed team, which has the same score, while Olympiacos’ score froze at 4 points in third place, and Baczka Topola settled at the bottom of the standings with one point.
France’s Olympique Marseille topped the standings of Group B, following its 2-0 victory over its host AEK Athens of Greece, while Brighton of England won its host of Ajax Amsterdam of the Netherlands, with the same result.
Marseille’s double had an African flavor, as Democratic Congolese Chancel Mbemba opened the scoring for the French team in the 25th minute, before Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr eliminated AEK’s hopes of snatching at least an equalizing point, by scoring the second goal in the third minute of stoppage time for the match.
In the other match in the group, which took place in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, the young Spanish star Ansu Fati scored the first goal for Brighton in the 15th minute, then his Ivorian teammate Simon Adingra added the second goal in the 53rd minute.
Spain’s Real Betis strengthened its hopes of advancing to the next round, after a great 4-1 victory over its guest Aris Limassol of Cyprus in the third group, which witnessed a 2-1 victory for Scottish Rangers over its guest Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic.
Real Betis topped the standings with nine points, two points ahead of their closest rival, Rangers, while Sparta Prague’s tally stood at 4 points, and Aris Limassol was in last place with three points.
The Italian Atalanta advanced to the knockout stage, after its valuable 1-0 victory over its guest Sturm Graz of Austria in the fourth group, which witnessed the victory of Sporting Lisbon of Portugal 2-1 over its guest Rakow of Poland.
Atalanta remained on top with 10 points, three points ahead of its closest rival, Sporting Lisbon, while Sturm Graz ranked third with four points, and Rakov was at the bottom of the standings with one point.
If Atalanta loses in the remaining two rounds of the group and Sturm Graz wins in them, the two teams will have an equal score of 10 points at the end of the group stage, and the direct confrontations will decide the position between them according to the tournament regulations, which will be in favor of the Italian team, which tied 2-2 with its Austrian counterpart in their match. The first in the group last month.
It is noteworthy that the first-place finisher in each of the eight groups in the European League qualifies directly for the round of 16, while the runner-up finishers play a playoff role with the teams that finished third in the group stage of the Champions League, which moved on to play in the European League.
2023-11-09 23:12:00
#Europa #League #West #Ham #takes #lead #Olympiacos
