Arsenal opened its fourth straight Europa League campaign with a 2-1 come-from-behind win at Rapid Vienna on Thursday in an opening round of games affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Star striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang came off the bench to score the winning goal in the 74th for Arsenal, which won its group in its previous three campaigns in the second-tier European competition.
Roma also came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Young Boys, as did Granada to upset PSV Eindhoven away.
Rangers’ Kemar Roofe scored the goal of the night in a 2-0 victory at Standard Liege, dribbling his way through three opponents inside his own half and then launching a shot from the halfway line that caught the goalkeeper off guard and looped into the net.
Dutch team AZ Alkmaar overcame a slew of coronavirus cases to upset Napoli 1-0.
Tottenham, AC Milan were among teams playing later Thursday.
Arsenal went behind when goalkeeper Bernd Leno played a poor pass that fell to Rapid forward Taxiarchis Fountas, who slotted in a low shot from a tough angle in the 51st minute.
Arteta sent on Aubameyang and Héctor Bellerín in the 61st, and the substitutes helped spark the comeback.
After David Luiz headed in a free kick from Nicolas Pépé to level the score, Mohamed Elneny freed Bellerín down the right to cross for Aubameyang to complete the comeback from close range.
In the other Group B game, Molde also came from behind to win 2-1 at Dundalk.
AZ Alkmaar flew into Naples with 13 players sidelined with coronavirus infections. Napoli, meanwhile, was coming off a 4-1 win over high-scoring Atalanta 4-1 this past weekend. But the Dutch staved off the hosts’ pressure before Dani de Wit scored the winner in the 57th. Real Sociedad won 1-0 at Rijeka the other Group F game.
With Roma resting striker Edin Džeko, Bruno Peres and Marash Kumbulla led the rally with the second-half goals for the Italian side.
Jean Pierre Nsame had given Young Boys the lead by converting a penalty kick in the 14th.
It was the first home loss for Young Boys to an Italian opponent in European competitions after beating Udinese, Napoli and Juventus.
Also in Group A, Romania’s Cluj won 2-0 at Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia.
In Group C, Bayer Leverkusen produced the biggest win of the early games by beating Nice 6-2. Nadiem Amiri and Lucas Alario scored early first-half goals five minutes apart for Leverkusen, while substitute Karim Bellarabi netted two and 17-year-old forward Florian Wirtz came off the bench to complete the rout.
In a game between teams from two countries whose domestic leagues have been interrupted due to high levels of coronavirus infections, Israel’s Hapoel Beer-Sheva beat Czech Republic’s Slavia Prague 3-1.
James Tavernier gave Celtic the lead from the penalty spot in the 19th before Roofe added his spectacular second goal in injury time. Benfica won 4-2 at Lech Poznan in the other Group D game.
In Group E, German forward Mario Götze put PSV ahead in first-half injury time before Jorge Molina and Darwin Machis scored for Granada in the second half. Omonoia drew with PAOK 1-1.
Arsenal, Roma open Europa League with comeback wins
https://arab.news/9rdse
Arsenal, Roma open Europa League with comeback wins
Al-Qadsiah’s SPL match postponed as Damac clinch victory in relegation six-pointer
- Damac secure 3-0 victory against Al-Riyadh in Abha
- Al-Kholood vs. Al-Qadsiah postponed until March 7
DAMMAM: Much has changed since the conclusion of Matchday 24 in the Saudi Pro League last Saturday. Several nations across the Middle East have postponed their leagues indefinitely, with the war in the region even threatening West Asia’s participation across all levels of AFC competitions for the upcoming knockout stages.
The Saudi Pro League was one of the few to continue without pause, with Matchday 25 scheduled to kick off on Thursday as Damac welcomed Al-Riyadh and Al-Qadsiah travelled to Qassim to face Al-Kholood. Or, so Saudi Pro League fans thought.
Hours before Al-Kholood and Al-Qadsiah were set to kick off, the hosts announced that they had received a notification from the Saudi Pro League confirming their match was postponed Saturday, March 7, due to the cancellation of Al-Qadsiah’s flight to Qassim.
That meant that Thursday featured the sole encounter between Damac and Al-Riyadh, with Friday and Saturday set to host four matches each.
Both Damac and Al-Riyadh have endured difficult seasons. They two sides were level on 16 points prior before the meeting in Abha, and both had suffered similar 1-0 defeats to Al-Ahli in recent weeks — matches in which each felt unlucky not to come away with at least a point.
That said, it was Damac who controlled proceedings for most of the evening. Mauricio Dulac set the visitors up in their traditional 5-4-1, with Mamadou Sylla leading the line.
Damac, meanwhile, looked to break them down centrally, operating in a 4-3-1-2 that gave Valentín Vada freedom behind Yakou Méïté and Mohammad Al-Salkhadi. They were aided by Jonathan Okita’s dangerous runs from deep, which ultimately changed the course of the match.
After initial attempts to find the in-form Méïté in the air through a series of crosses, Damac shifted their focus to one of their other strengths: attacking through the middle.
A calculated long ball from Jamal Harkass found Okita breaking into the space in the Al-Riyadh defence, as the Congolese midfielder controlled the ball with a fine touch before firing past Milan Borjan in 35th minute.
Damac extended their dominance after the interval. In the 53rd minute, another Harkass long ball created danger — this time with Méïté holding the ball up before Al-Salkhadi threaded a pass through to Vada, who calmly finished to double the lead.
At the hour mark, Sanousi Al-Hawsawi effectively sealed the match as he met Abdulrahman Al-Obaid’s corner with a towering header, giving Damac a crucial victory and lifting them three points away from the relegation zone.
Saudi Pro League action resumes on Friday, with Al-Hilal hosting Al-Najma, Al-Khaleej facing Al-Hazem, Al-Taawoun taking on Al-Fateh, and the Sea Derby between Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad kicking off at 10:00pm.
