PARIS: Olivier Giroud scored his 100th Arsenal goal as a youthful Gunners side beat BATE Borisov 4-2 in Belarus in the Europa League on Thursday, as Everton were held to a shock 2-2 draw by 10-man Apollon Limassol at Goodison Park.
Theo Walcott netted twice for the Gunners and Rob Holding was also on target as they eased to a second victory in as many matches in Group H.
Arsene Wenger’s side beat Cologne 3-1 at home in their first outing a fortnight ago, and the Germans lost again on Thursday, going down 1-0 at home to Red Star Belgrade.
Wenger made nine changes to the Arsenal team after they traveled to eastern Europe on the back of a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Monday.
Only Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny kept their places, while a number of youngsters featured with Joe Willock being handed a first senior start.
It was two comparative veterans who combined for Arsenal’s early opener, though, with Jack Wilshere setting up Walcott to head in from close range.
Walcott made it 2-0 midway through the first half after an awful error by BATE goalkeeper Denis Scherbitski, who miscued a clearance straight to the England forward.
Holding then bundled in his first Arsenal goal but a superb header by Mirko Ivanic allowed the Belarusian champions to pull one back before the half-hour.
Holding and Walcott hit the woodwork and Giroud converted from the penalty spot early in the second half, becoming the 19th player to reach a century of goals for Arsenal.
That was not the end of the scoring, though, as Mikhail Gordeichuk got the hosts’ second of the night.
“When you score four goals away from home, you’re always likely to win,” Walcott told BT Sport.
“There was a chance for me to take the penalty for a hat-trick, but knowing Olivier was on 99 goals, it was a great opportunity for him so that’s why he took the penalty.”
Spaniard Hector Yuste snatched Cypriots Apollon a point at Everton.
Everton were stunned less than 12 minutes in as Adrian Sardinero took advantage of a mistake from Ashley Williams to bundle into the net.
But just as the crowd were starting to get on the home side’s backs, Wayne Rooney pounced on a woeful back-pass to score his third goal since returning to Goodison Park from Manchester United.
Winger Nikola Vlasic, 19, came off the bench and slotted into the corner midway through the second half to score his first Everton goal.
But after Valentin Roberge was red-carded, Ronald Koeman’s out-of-form hosts switched off and Yuste flicked in a header from a free-kick.
Everton are now bottom of Group E, three points behind leaders Atalanta, who drew 1-1 against Lyon.
Patrick Cutrone struck in the dying seconds to grab AC Milan a 3-2 victory over Croatian visitors Rijeka in a dramatic Group D encounter at the San Siro.
Milan forward Andre Silva continued his excellent Europa League form this season, as he put them in front with his sixth goal in just three matches in the competition.
Mateo Musacchio made it two for the seven-time European champions, but Boadu Maxwell Acosty pulled one back with six minutes left and Josip Elez drilled home an 90th-minute penalty.
There was still time, though, for Cutrone to convert Fabio Borini’s cross in the fourth minute of injury-time.
Marseille lost 1-0 away to Salzburg in Austria in Group I while Athletic Bilbao and Hertha Berlin both lost in Group J.
Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Manuel Fernandes scored a hat-trick inside the first 17 minutes as the Russians beat Czech outfit Zlin 3-0 to go top of Group F.
In Group K, Alassane Plea scored twice as Nice beat Vitesse Arnhem of the Netherlands 3-0 in a game interrupted for around 15 minutes due to floodlight failure.
Former UEFA Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg were 3-1 winners at home to Real Sociedad in Group L.
Giroud reaches century, Everton held at home
Giroud reaches century, Everton held at home
Humbert stuns Tsitsipas as defending champion exits Dubai in first round
- Last year’s winner lost in straight sets to the 2024 champion
- Ugo Humbert will now play the 2022 champion, Andrey Rublev, on Wednesday
DUBAI: Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday night, falling in the first round to 2024 title-winner Ugo Humbert under the bright lights of the center court.
The 4-6, 5-7 defeat at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium means the 27-year-old Greek, who left the court with his head bowed, will drop outside the world top 40 for the first time in almost eight years.
The first-round meeting between the two unseeded Dubai champions caught the eye as soon as the main draw took place on Saturday for this week’s ATP 500 tournament. Only seven world ranking places separated the pair and the lower-ranked Humbert, at No. 37, edged the pre-match head-to-head record at 3-1. Tsitsipas has not yet progressed beyond the quarterfinals across five events since the start of the year.
“It was a funny first round — the two last winners of the tournament,” said Humbert, who beat Alexander Bublik in the final here two years ago. “It’s so good to be back where I won the tournament. I have such good memories, and it was a tough battle tonight.”
From the first exchanges, both players dominated their service games with remarkable ease. Tsitsipas only conceded two points in his first four, while Humbert was forced to deuce in just one game. Yet as the scoreline progressed in undramatic fashion to 5-4 to Humbert, and with Tsitsipas’ majestic topspin backhand starting to purr, the Greek’s serve deserted him when he needed it most.
Fewer than 24 hours after he had enjoyed a Ramadan cultural experience that saw him don a dark blue kandura to eat the fast-breaking iftar meal, Tsitsipas demonstrated the season’s spirit of generosity by gifting Humbert a pair of double-faults, an unforced error and, ultimately, the opening set.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with Tsitsipas unable to change the course of the match. Humbert conceded two break points in the first game yet found the resolve to dig deep and hold on. The set stayed on serve for 11 consecutive games until, with Humbert 6-5 up and Tsitsipas serving to stay in the tournament, another two wasteful forehands by the three-time finalist handed Humbert two match points.
The Frenchman took the victory at the first opportunity as Tsitsipas’ third unforced forehand error in sequential points sealed his fate.
“I think today, it was a big battle,” said Humbert. “We both served very well, and I had just a few opportunities and I did it, so I’m super happy. It’s nice to come back to play again on this beautiful court. I have such a nice feeling when I play here and it’s nice to be in (the) second round.”
Next up for Humbert is 2022 champion Andrey Rublev, who eased past France’s Valentin Royer 6-3, 6-4. The energetic Muscovite shuttled around Center Court like a man incapable of letting a ball past him, with more than one seemingly impossible return sent safely back by the 28-year-old.
Royer saved eight second-set break points by the time he levelled the set at 2-2, but Rublev’s serving was at times unplayable. His shot selection must have left his opponent bewildered as he mixed impudent drop shots with returnable volleys at the net.
“It was a great win for me because I knew very well in our first meeting, I lost,” said Rublev. “[Royer’s] a great fighter, and I’m really happy that I was able to take that challenge and go through in straight sets. When you play so late, to have some time to recover before the next match is so important.”
On facing Humbert, he added: “It’s going to be great for me to see my level because Ugo is a great player. He’s hitting the ball really hard; he’s getting better and better, and always fights until the end, playing super aggressive and hitting bombs from all over the place. He’s won here in the past too, so it’s going to be an interesting fight.”
Earlier in the day, eighth seed Jiri Lehecka survived losing the first set to Lucky Loser Luca Nardi — a late injury replacement for France’s Arthur Fils — by recovering to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The Czech world No. 22 will face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta on Wednesday after the qualifier disposed of Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4.
In the final game on New Court 1, sixth seed Jakub Mensik edged past Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 7-6 (7). Mensik will face Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, the world No. 47, who narrowly edged out Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.
Meanwhile on Court 2, world No. 25 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands — the highest-ranked player not seeded in Dubai this week — defeated Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-3, 6-4 to set-up a mouthwatering second round match against second seed Alexander Bublik.
Elsewhere, Arthur Rinderknech also lost the first set en route to defeating Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The imposing Frenchman will play British fourth seed Jack Draper in the next round. The USA’s Jenson Brooksby, the world No. 49, dispatched Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 to seal a last-16 tie against seventh seed Karen Khachanov, who required three sets to eliminate Lucky Loser Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.
