Europa League Roundup: Man Utd & Arsenal Win, Wolves Beaten & Celtic Draw in France

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90 Min
Publish date:
Sep 19, 2019

The Europa League group stages started on Thursday night, with three Premier League sides beginning their bids to win Europe's secondary club competition.

Arsenal had a tough assignment, taking on last season's semi finalists Eintracht Frankfurt, while Wolves and Manchester United entertained Braga and Astana respectively.

With all that said, here's a rundown on how the British clubs got on in their first group stage games of the campaign.

Group E

Celtic had hoped to play Champions League football this season, but failure in their qualifiers ensured it was Thursday nights they would have to keep free for the 2019/20 term.

The Bhoys were made to work for their point against Rennes, however, as Ryan Christie netted a second half penalty after former Milan and Watford striker M'Baye Niang had given the hosts the lead.

Somewhat incredibly, Celtic substitute Vakoun Issouf Bayo managed to get himself sent off just seven minutes after his introduction, picking up two quick yellow cards to earn his marching orders in stoppage time. Eesh.

Cluj, coincidentally Celtic's conquerors in the qualifying stages of the Champions League, scored a big 2-1 W over Serie A side Lazio, who fielded star names like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Lucas Leiva and Joaquin Correa.

Group F

Arsenal made light work of Eintracht Frankfurt, Joe Willock netting in the 38th minute before Bukayo Saka scored his first goal for club late on. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wrapped things up shortly after Saka's effort.

You can read the match report here and the social reaction here.

In the other game in the group, Standard Liege pipped Vitoria 2-0.

Group G

fbl-eur-c3-rangers-feyenoord-5d83e81474110ebb0e000001.jpg — ANDY BUCHANAN/GettyImages

Rangers fans were probably cursing their luck when James Tavernier missed a penalty in the tenth minute.

However, Sheyi Ojo smacked in a thunderbolt shortly after to put the Gers ahead. That goal proved to be the difference, the game ending 1-0.

There was a fair bit of added time in the group's other game between Porto and Young Boys, but the former eventually secured a 2-1 victory.

Group K

Wolves, who have disappointed so far in the Premier League, hosted Primeira Liga side Braga on Thursday night.

Things went from bad to worse when Ricardo Horta gave the visitors the lead in the 71st minute, finishing off a swift counter attack following Ryan Bennett's sloppy pass. Wolves couldn't muster up an equaliser.

Slovan Bratislava smacked Besiktas 4-2 in the other game.

Group L

Manchester United made their fans wait until the 73rd minute before opening the scoring, but it must have been worth the wait to see one of their young guns steal the show.

Mason Greenwood squeezed one in from a tight angle to break the deadlock, giving Ole Gunnar Solskjaer another 1-0 triumph following their success against Leicester at the weekend.

In the other game in the group, Partizan Belgrade and AZ Alkmaar played out a feisty 2-2 draw, Bribas Natcho netting twice for Belgrade.

A full roundup of Thursday night's results can be found below.


Group A
Qarabag 0-3 Sevilla
APOEL Nicosia 3-4 F91 Dudelange
Group B
Copenhagen 1-0 FC Lugano
Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Malmoe FF
Group C
Getafe 1-0 Trabzonspor
Basel 5-0 Krasnodar
Group D
PSV Eindhoven 3-2 Sporting CP
LASK 1-0 Rosenborg
Group E
Cluj 2-1 Lazio
Rennes 1-1 Celtic
Group F
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Arsenal
Standard Liege 2-0 Vitoria
Group G
Porto 2-1 Young Boys
Rangers 1-0 Feyenoord
Group H
Espanyol 1-1 Ferencvaros
Ludogorets 5- 1 CSKA Moscow
Group I
Gent 3-2 Saint Etienne
Wolfsburg 3-1 FC Olexandria
Group J
Roma 4-0 Istanbul Basaksehir
Borussia Monchengladbach 0-4 Wolfsberger AC
Group K
Wolves 0-1 Braga
Slovan Bratislava 4-2 Besiktas
Group L
Manchester United 1-0 Astana
Partizan Belgrade 2-2 AZ Alkmaar