UEFA_EUROPE LEAGUE (UEL)

Europa League - Round-up: Big guns fall

Eurosport - Fri, 18 Sep 09:58:00 2009


The group stage of the inaugural Europa League got under way, with pre-tournament favourites Roma, Lazio and Hamburg all succumbing to surprise defeats in their opening matches.


Roma, with Claudio Ranieri at the helm for his first European assignment at the club, went down 2-0 at Swiss side Basel (pictured) in Group E, while German league leaders Hamburg were stunned 3-0 by Rapid Vienna in Group C.

An injury-time goal from Marc Janko earned Red Bull Salzburg a shock 2-1 comeback win at Roma's city rivals Lazio, enabling Villarreal to steal a march in Group G with a 1-0 home win over Levski Sofia.

European football's governing body UEFA is using the tournament to trial the deployment of extra referee assistants behind each goal-line and the officials were an eye-catching if uncontroversial presence on the night.

The extra officials are the brain-child of UEFA president Michel Platini, and the Frenchman was doubly assured of a place in the headlines after his namesake - a Brazilian striker called Michel whose nickname is Platini - scored the opening goal in CSKA Sofia's 1-1 draw against Fulham.

Shakhtar Donetsk, who beat Werder Bremen in the last ever UEFA Cup final in May, began their defence with a 4-1 win at Club Brugge in Group C, while Everton trounced AEK Athens 4-0 in Group I but had Louis Saha sent off following an injury-time altercation with visiting defender Juanfran.

Genoa's Spanish midfielder Alberto Zapater had the honour of scoring the first ever goal in the tournament's group stage, and his fourth-minute strike set the current Serie A leaders on the way to a 2-0 victory at home to Slavia Prague in Group B.

Elsewhere, Scottish giants Celtic let a 1-0 lead slip in a 2-1 defeat at Hapoel Tel-Aviv, while a late equaliser from Ivorian forward Gervinho earned French side Lille a 1-1 draw at home to 2004 champions Valencia.

Brazil-born Portuguese international Liedson netted a hat-trick as Sporting Lisbon won 3-2 at Dutch side Heerenveen and there were also wins for Benfica, Athletic Bilbao, Turkish giants Galatasaray and Werder Bremen.

The Europa League is a re-named, streamlined version of the UEFA Cup, with 12 groups of four teams facing off in a round-robin format and the top two from each group qualifying for a place in the knockout phase alongside the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
AFP