EUROPA League
Osimhen-less Napoli win thriller to knock Ndidi-inspired Leicester out of Europa League
Napoli sent Leicester crashing out of the Europa League as the Italian side advanced to the knockout stages with a 3-2 win in a dramatic conclusion to Group C on Thursday (Dec 9).
Leicester were top of the group going into the final round of matches, but Brendan Rodgers’ team were condemned to an unwanted place in the Europa Conference League after the defeat in Naples dropped them to third place.
Napoli had blown a two-goal lead as Leicester hit back to level by half-time, but Eljif Elmas’s second goal of the game won it for the hosts after the interval.
Spartak Moscow finished top of the group after a 1-0 win at Legia Warsaw, secured by Zelimkhan Bakaev’s 17th-minute goal.
Leicester would have salvaged their Europa League place if Legia’s Tomas Pekhart hadn’t missed a stoppage-time penalty.
Napoli ended in second place, two points ahead of Leicester, and will feature in the Europa League knockout round play-offs in February.
Continuing a disappointing season for the FA Cup holders, Leicester now have the unwanted burden of playing in the knockout play-off round of Europe’s least glamourous club competition when it resumes in the new year.
“I’ve got to be honest I don’t even know what the competition is,” Rodgers said of the Europa Conference League.
“I was focused on the Europa League and winning this group and at the very least finishing second. But I am sure we will find out soon enough.”
Seven Leicester players and three staff members missed the trip to Italy, with Rodgers revealing both positive Covid-19 cases and other illnesses had depleted his squad.
He was still able to name eight of the team beaten by Aston Villa last weekend, in contrast to Napoli, who are in the midst of a major injury crisis which deprived them of Victor Osimhen, Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne and Fabian Ruiz.
Despite their fitness issues, Napoli took the lead in the fourth minute as Adam Ounas marked his first start for the club since 2019 with a clinical low strike from just inside the penalty area.
Napoli struck again in the 24th minute when Andrea Petagna beat Leicester’s offside trap and squared his pass to Elmas, who slotted past Kasper Schmeichel with ease.
Leicester rocked
Jonny Evans gave Leicester hope when he fired home after Napoli failed to clear James Maddison’s 27th-minute free-kick.
Rodgers’ men blew a 2-0 lead in a draw against Napoli in September and it was Napoli’s turn to squander that advantage this time.
Evans’ first goal in Europe for eight years was followed in the 33rd minute by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s maiden goal for Leicester.
Maddison’s free-kick was only cleared to the edge of the area, where the 23-year-old midfielder smashed a superb volley into the bottom corner.
But Napoli regained the lead in the 53rd minute as Elmas lashed home from Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s cross.
Maddison hit the post from just six yards moments later as Rodgers held his head in frustration.
Real Sociedad secured second place in Group B with a 3-0 win against PSV Eindhoven, who drop into the Europa Conference League.
Mikel Oyarzabal netted a 43rd-minute penalty and scored again in the 62nd minute before Alexander Sorloth struck in the final moments after Ibrahim Sangare’s red card for PSV.
Group B winners Monaco were held to a 1-1 draw at Sturm Graz.
Group A winners Lyon lost their 100 per cent record in this season’s competition after a 1-1 draw against second-placed Rangers.
In Group D, first-placed Eintracht Frankfurt drew 1-1 at third-placed Fenerbahce, while second-placed Olympiakos lost 1-0 against Antwerp.
-AFP
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.
Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” Amorim said. “If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, this is the best way to help any player, it’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve.”
United nonetheless remain unbeaten in this season’s Europa League — the only side to do so this term — after goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee put them on course for a potential victory.
The team, who are 13th in the English Premier League standings, still go into next week’s second leg in Manchester as favourites to book a spot in the last four.
“It was an entertaining game,” Amorim added. “We had some difficulty in the first half trying to press, because Lyon played in a different way. Then, in the middle of the first half and especially the second, we controlled the game.
“The second leg will be a different game. At home, our fans want us to press all the time.”
-Reuters
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Manchester United will be without defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Manuel Ugarte for Thursday’s Europa League last-16 clash with Real Sociedad, coach Ruben Amorim said, as he seeks to salvage an otherwise dire season.
The pair were left out of an already depleted squad after picking up injuries in last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Fulham that dumped them out of the FA Cup to compound the misery of lying 14th in the Premier League.
“We are being careful with them because at the moment we cannot afford to lose any more players for a long time,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday before the Europa League first leg game in Spain.
“We are taking care of them at Carrington (training ground) and they cannot play this game because it will be a greater risk.”
The coach, who joined United in November, stressed the importance of balancing youth development with the needs of the squad during a worsening injury crisis.
“I’m trying to cope with everything. When I do my squad, I’m trying to think about every aspect, of the formation of the (new) kids, of the squad and not if it will look really well with the fans and the media,” Amorim said.
Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount remain on individual rehabilitation programmes.
Lisandro Martinez, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Amad Diallo, who suffered an ankle ligament injury in training, are also sidelined.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes scored a last-gasp winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the Europa League group stage on Thursday and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min struck twice in his team’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.
United climbed to fourth in the standings on 15 points going into the last round of matches, in a strong position to reach the knockout phase along with Spurs who are sixth with 14 points.
The English side broke the deadlock early in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland misjudged a Christian Eriksen corner, sending the ball into his own net.
Rangers fought back with an equaliser from substitute Cyril Dessers two minutes from time before Fernandes struck in added time to give United all three points.
In Germany, James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs in the third minute and Son doubled the lead in a first half the visitors dominated.
Hoffenheim pulled one back in the 68th minute through Anton Stach’s counter-attack goal. Son restored Spurs’ two-goal lead in the 77th minute before the hosts’ David Mokwa scored to give his side late hope but the game ended in a narrow win for the English side.
Lazio stayed top of the standings with a commanding 3-1 home victory over Real Sociedad to become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.
Mario Gila struck after five minutes and when Sociedad’s Aihen Munoz was shown a second yellow card on the half-hour mark, Lazio immediately seized the advantage.
Mattia Zaccagni quickly doubled the lead and Taty Castellanos effectively ended the match with a third for the hosts. Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation goal for Sociedad.
Eintracht Frankfurt moved closer to securing a top-eight spot with a 2-0 home win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros thanks to second-half goals from Can Uzun and Hugo Ekitike. They are second in the standings with 16 points, three ahead of ninth-placed Galatasaray.
A late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 home win over AS Roma and Olympiacos earned a 1-0 victory at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.
Dutch side Alkmaar can still reach the top eight with 11 points sitting in 14th place while Roma’s nine points place them 21st, close to the bottom of the playoff section.
Fenerbahce and Olympique Lyonnais played out an intense goalless draw in Istanbul, leaving the French side in a strong position to progress to fifth place in the group on 14 points.
-Reuters
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