Round Two of the 2021/22 Europa League took centre stage on Thursday and while it was a good night for Lyon and Eintracht, Napoli and Leicester suffered surprise losses while Real Sociedad played out a draw with Monaco.
So let’s take a closer look at the representatives from Europe’s big five leagues and see how their nights unfolded, as well as picking out some Europa League 2021 highlights from another great evening of European football.
Napoli 2-3 Spartak Moscow
Napoli have started the Serie A season in blistering form, winning six from six to lead the table and it was no surprise that they beat Juventus in that run. And it took precisely 11 seconds for Gli Azzurri go ahead in this game as Macedonian midfielder Eljif Elmas took advantage of a goalkeeper error to poke the ball home… as the keeper spilled a cross Elmas pounced. Napoli should have doubled their lead more than once but they let Spartak back into the game when Marcus Rui flew into former Chelsea midfielder Victor Moses with is studs up and received his marching orders.
And Moscow were right back in the game, on the hour, when Napoli failed to clear a corner and Quincy Promes drilled the loose ball home. Playing with ten men for an hour is a big disadvantage, and Napoli’s problems grew when Mikhail Ignatov slid the ball home after a fast break. Spartak went down to ten men when Max Caufriez picked up a second yellow card but the night got even worse for Napoli when Promes grabbed his second and Spartak’s third, though Victor Osimhen pulled one back deep into stoppage time.
A night to forget for Gli Azzurri.
Legia Warsaw 1-0 Leicester
Group C favourites Monaco and Leicester played out a 2-2 draw in their opener, while Legia overcame Spartak Moscow 1-0. Neither Legia nor Leicester has been pulling up trees in their domestic league and there was little quality on show in the early stages of this game tonight. But Legia gave the Foxes a few warnings and went ahead on the half hour when Mahir Emreli muscled his way through the Leicester defence and smashed the ball beyond Kasper Schmeichel and into the net.
Brendan Rodgers had a wealth of talent on his bench and, with a quarter of the game remaining, he brought on Harvey Barnes and James Maddison but without causing the hosts any real concerns.
In a wide open competition the Europa League 2021 betting odds pitch the Foxes as strong contenders at odds of 15.00, but this result casts doubt on their credentials.
Real Sociedad 1-1 Monaco
Group B’s big two met in the Basque country and slugged it out for a share of the points.
Injury hit Sociedad made it seven games unbeaten at the weekend with a 1-0 La Liga win over Elche, but they went behind in the first half of this game when Monaco skipper Axel Disasi converted a cross from Sofiane Diop on 16 minutes. The French side held out until the break but Sociedad fought back through Mikel Merino on 53 minutes to earn a draw.
Lyon 3-0 Brondby
Following the summer sale of winger Maxwel Cornet to Burnley Lyon have bedded in their new recruit, ex Liverpool midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, and he was a livewire in the first half. Brondby keeper Mads Hermansen was in great form to keep Lyon out as Shaqiri buzzed around and put plenty of dangerous balls into the box but with no end result.
The deadlock was broken on 64 minutes when Thiago Mendes crossed, Lucas Paqueta flicked a header across the six yard box and Karl Toko Ekambi converted. At that point Brondby were beaten and Ekambi doubled the score and his own tally soon after, before Houssem Aouar made it three. Lyon, at odds of 19.00 to win the tournament, started their Group A campaign with a 2-0 victory over Rangers while Brondby picked up a point against Sparta Prague
Antwerp 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
At SBOTOP odds of 1.79 Eintracht were expected to make a mark on Group D with a win in Antwerp, having drawn their opener against Fenerbahce. But in the opening half they failed to break down the hosts who had more shots on target at three to two. The second half was evenly matched as former Roma enforcer Radja Nainggolan tried to take control of the midfield for Antwerp but he couldn’t inspire a goal; and the Bundesliga side took advantage in stoppage time when Dinis Almeida fouled Jesper Lindstrom, and Goncalo Paciencia converted the penalty.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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