Europa League Matchday 2, 29-09-2011
GROUP A
A massive shock at White Hart Lane was on the cards when Irish minnows Shamrock Rovers took the lead against Spurs, but the English Premier League side finally fought back to win 3-1, scoring three goals in just six minutes.
Rovers took a surprise 51st-minute lead when Stephen Rice deflected in Patrick Sullivan’s powerful shot. It looked as though Spurs keeper Carlo Cudicini would save Sullivan’s strike, but Rice’s deflection gave the Italian no chance.
Tottenham 3 v 1 Shamrock Rovers no shocks eventually
The lead only lasted nine minutes though, as the north Londoners hit back through Roman Pavlyuchenko, before Jermain Defoe’s header put Tottenham into the lead for the first time on 61 minutes.
Giovanni dos Santos completed a quickfire five minutes for the home side, firing a powerful strike past Rovers stopper Richard Brush.
Group A’s other game saw Rubin Kazan held to a 2-2 home draw by PAOK Saloniki, but the Russian side still went top of the group, level on four points with Spurs.
GROUP B
Standard Liege saw off Danish side FC Copenhagen with an impressive second half display, running out 3-0 winners thanks to second-half strikes from Luis Manuel Seijas, Felipe and Kanu.
FC Vorskla Poltava woke up too late to earn a point against Hannover 96 in the other match in Group B, as goals from Mohammed Abdellaoue and Christian Pander earned the visitors a 2-1 victory in the Ukraine.
GROUP C
Legia Warsaw snatched a 3-2 win late over Hapoel Tel Aviv, Toto Tamuz gave the visitors the lead in a first half which the team from Israel dominated, yet it was a different story after the break as Legia equalised through Danijel Ljuboja and gained the upper hand via Marcin Komorowski’s penalty.
Hapoel got themselves back in the match thanks to substitute Mahran Lala, but Miroslav Radović’s brilliant finish earned the hosts victory a minute from time.
PSV Eindhoven fought back from behind to beat Rapid Bucuresti 3-1 away and make it six points from two fixtures, late goals from Ola Toivonen and Tim Matavž made sure of the points for the Eredivisie side.
GROUP D
Sporting Lisbon made it two wins from as many Europe League outings with a 2-1 victory over Italian Serie A side Lazio, despite playing almost half the game with ten men.
Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored the first for the home side midway through the first half but their lead did not last long as Miroslav Klose equalised five minutes before the break, Emiliano Insúa then restoring Sporting’s lead with a fine strike on the stroke of half-time receiving a yellow card for his over the top celebrations.
The Argentinian left-back undid his good work when he received his marching orders with a second yellow card five minutes after the interval, but despite mounting Lazio pressure the ten men from Liga Sagres held on.
The other Group D match saw Romanian side Vaslui remain unbeaten in the group, earning their second draw in a 2-2 stalemate with 10-man Zurich, after Raphael Koch was sent off for the visitors early in the second half.
GROUP E
Premier League club Stoke City earned a 2-1 win over Turkish side Besiktas .
Substitute Jon Walters’ 77th-minute penalty settled an entertaining contest that began with two early goals as Roberto Hilbert put the visitors ahead after 14 minutes and Peter Crouch equalised 60 seconds later. It was Stoke’s third home victory in their maiden Europa League campaign and continued this season’s superb run at home.
Mikha’s brilliant solo strike cancelled out Ideye Brown’s opener as Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Dynamo Kyiv settled for a 1-1 draw in the other game in this group.
GROUP F
Athletic Bilbao moved three points clear a the top of Group F with a 2-0 win against French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Athletic Club 2 v 0 PSG
First-half goals from Markel Susaeta and Igor Gabilondo where enough to take the points, Sissoko was sent off in the second half for PSG bringing the end to any fight back from the French big spenders.
After failing to record a win in last season’s Europa League group stage, Salzburg are off and running this campaign thanks to three second-half goals from Leonardo, Gonzalo Zárate and Dušan Švento beating Slovan Bratislava 3-0.
GROUP G
Austria Vienna managed a 2-1 win at Swedish side Malmo while Metalist Kharkiv’s Taison cancelled out Jozy Altidore’s goal with 14 minutes remaining as the two sides could not be separated, with the match finishing as a 1-1 draw.
GROUP H
Ryan Donk headed the winner in added time as the Belgian league leaders Brugge came from behind against last season’s beaten finalists.
Hélder Barbosa gave the hosts a 53rd-minute lead, 19 minutes from time Joseph Akpala profited from a mix-up to prod in the first goal for Brugge making it the first goal Braga have conceded at home in Europe in eight matches, then just as a point apiece seemed inevitable, Donk rose to power in Vadis Odjidja’s free-kick.
Visitors Birmingham City came from behind to beat Slovenian table-toppers Maribor 2-1 in the other match in Group H with Chris Burke and Wade Elliott scoring in the second half, after going behind from Dalibor Volaš’s 29th-minute strike.
GROUP I
In this group Udinese’s Almen Abdi cancelled out Ki Sung-Yong’s strike with two minutes to play to slavage a 1-1 draw for the Serie A side against Celtic, meanwhile in Spain Juanfran netted with three minutes left as La Liga side Atletico drew 1-1 with Rennes.
GROUP J
A Christian Fuchs goal in either half helped coach Huub Stevens make a winning return to Schalke 04 as the Bundesliga side recorded a 3-1 victory against Maccabi Haifa FC.
AEK Larnaca FC picked up their first point in Europa League Group J after a 1-1 draw against FC Steaua Bucureşti.
The Cypriot side were on their way to celebrating a maiden win after Miljan Mrdaković had struck to give them the lead in the 59th minute. However, Mihai Costea responded soon after for Steaua, who had to see out the final stages with ten men following Pablo Brandán’s dismissal.
GROUP K
FC Twente came from behind to beat Wisła Kraków 4-1 and record their first win in Europa League Group K.
Wisła went ahead through David Biton’s effort. Twente’s strike force then woke up, a goal apiece from Luuk de Jong and Marc Janko drawing them level before the interval.
The latter, with his 12th strike this term – one more than his attacking accomplice, and substitute Willem Janssen completed the scoring.
Fulham travelled to Denmark, unbeaten in three matches, although it was the hosts putting the pressure on in the early stages.
Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer had to be at his best to deny Baye Djiby Fall from close range before the Senegalese forward shot wide on the volley.
Against the run of play, Fulham claimed the lead through Johnson who slipped his shot under Odense goalkeeper Stefan Wessels before he wrapped the match up two minutes from time with his second goal.
GROUP L
Former UEFA Cup winners Anderlecht claimed a convincing 2-0 victory at Lokomotiv Moscow as their tidy defensive play and rapid counter attacking earned just reward.
Goals in either half from Matías Suárez and substitute Dieudonné Mbokani earned the visitors the points.
SK Sturm Graz scored twice late on to defeat ten-man AEK Athens and claim their first Europa League Group L victory.
Goals from Thomas Burgstaller and Mario Haas in the last five minutes saw Austrian side snatch the late win as AEK captain Traianos Dellas was dismissed for a second yellow card early in the second half.
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