Europa League: Arsenal, Rangers garner full points

Europa League: Arsenal, Rangers garner full points

AgenciesUpdated: Friday, September 20, 2019, 10:55 PM IST
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Arsenal's Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (L) and Arsenal's forward Bukayo Saka celebrate scoring during the UEFA Europa League Group F football match Eintracht Frankfurt v Arsenal in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany | Photo by Uwe Anspach / dpa / AFP

Paris: Last season's runners-up Arsenal romped to an impressive 3-0 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt in their Europa League opener on Thursday. On a night which featured five British clubs in action, Unai Emery's much-changed side enjoyed the best result of all with youngsters Joe Willock and Bukayo Saka scoring in Germany.

In between, Dominik Kohr was sent off for last season's beaten semi-finalists Frankfurt, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made sure of the win for Arsenal in the Group F clash.

Their next game will be at home to Standard Liege, who beat Vitoria Guimaraes 2-0 on Thursday. At Old Trafford, United had teenager Greenwood to thank as the 17-year-old's goal gave them a 1-0 win over Astana of Kazakhstan in Group L.

Victory justified Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to make nine changes from Saturday's Premier League win over Leicester City with a host of youngsters given their chance to impress.

The group's other game saw AZ Alkmaar come from behind to draw 2-2 with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia despite playing more than an hour with 10 men. Wolverhampton Wanderers were unable to make it three wins out of three for Premier League clubs as they slumped to a 1-0 home defeat against Braga at Molineux.

Ricardo Horta's second-half goal gave the Portuguese club all three points in Group K and it was a disappointing night for a Wolves team who are still without a win in the Premier League this season.

In the same group Slovan Bratislava were 4-2 winners at home to Besiktas, who welcome Wolves to Istanbul in a fortnight. Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard's Rangers started in fine fashion as they edged out Feyenoord 1-0 at Ibrox in Group G with Sheyi Ojo scoring the only goal of the game midway through the first half.

James Tavernier missed a penalty before that for the Glasgow side on an emotional night as a minute's silence was held in memory of Fernando Ricksen. The former Rangers and Netherlands defender died aged 43 on Wednesday after a long battle with motor neurone disease.

It is an ideal start for Rangers in a tough group and their next match will be away in Switzerland against Young Boys, who lost 2-1 at Porto on Thursday with Tiquinho netting twice for the hosts.

Celtic battled to a 1-1 draw with Rennes in France in a fiery Group E encounter, with Ryan Christie's second-half penalty cancelling out M'Baye Niang's 38th-minute spot-kick for the hosts before the visitors had Vakoun Issouf Bayo sent off at the death.

They now host CFR Cluj, the same side who eliminated them in Champions League qualifying. The Romanians shocked Lazio 2-1 on Thursday. Elsewhere, Sevilla, who won the Europa League three years running from 2014 to 2016, beat Qarabag 3-0 in Azerbaijan in Group A with Javier Hernandez getting their opening goal.

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