Europa League round-up: Jamie Vardy inspires Leicester victory as Alfredo Morelos equals Rangers record

Celtic wasted a two-goal lead to draw in Lille on a busy night in the Europa League

Sports Staff
Thursday 29 October 2020 23:11 GMT
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Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring against AEK
Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring against AEK (AFP)

AEK Athens 1-2 Leicester: Jamie Vardy inspired Leicester to a nervy Europa League victory at AEK Athens.

The 33-year-old became the Foxes' oldest European goalscorer after netting from the spot in a 2-1 win.

Hamza Choudhury's strike also helped ensure Leicester maintained their 100 per cent start to Group G.

Muamer Tankovic netted after the break to make it an anxious evening before missing a golden chance to make it 2-2.

Cengiz Under hit the bar but the Foxes survived an improved second-half performance from the hosts.

They remain join top with Braga, who beat Zorya Luhansk, with the Portuguese side travelling to the King Power Stadium next week.

Alfredo Morelos of Rangers celebrates (Getty)

Rangers 1-0 Lech Poznan: Alfredo Morelos equalled Ally McCoist's European goalscoring record for Rangers as the second-half substitute netted the only goal against Lech Poznan at Ibrox.

The Colombia striker powerfully headed home a wonderful Borna Barisic cross in the 68th minute to take his European tally for Rangers to 21 goals.

Morelos had come off the bench six minutes earlier and quickly enhanced Rangers' threat with the aggression they had been lacking in the final third.

The goal was enough to earn Gers an eighth straight win in all competitions and put them in a commanding position alongside Benfica in Europa League Group D with both sides on six points from two matches.

Celtic celebrate at the Grand Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille (AFP)

Lille 2-2 Celtic: Celtic let slip a two-goal interval lead to draw 2-2 with Lille in their thrilling Europa League encounter at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.

Neil Lennon's side were under the spotlight after losing to Rangers and AC Milan in their first Group H fixture before drawing 3-3 with Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday but they raced into a two-goal lead through attacker Mohamed Elyounossi who scored twice in a four-minute spell in the first half.

Hoops keeper Scott Bain, preferred to Vasilis Barkas, saved a Jonathan David penalty five minutes before the break and it looked like it was going to be Celtic's night but Lille dominated in the second half.

Defender Zeki Celik pulled a goal back in 67th minutes and Jonathan Ikone levelled in the 75th minute with Celtic hanging on for a valuable point although they will feel it should have been more.

Milan soar behind Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimovic didn't score but made his presence felt in the first 45 minutes of the game in Group H. The 39-year-old veteran crossed for Brahim Diaz from the right to net the opening goal with a shot between the legs of Sparta goalkeeper Milan Heca in the 24th minute.

Ibrahimovic, who contracted the coronavirus last month but has scored four goals in three matches since his return, wasted a golden opportunity to add another later in the first half.

After he was fouled in the area, Ibrahimovic hit the crossbar from the penalty spot in the 36th.

He was replaced by Rafael Leao for the second half, and the substitute made it 2-0 from close range after he was set up by a precise cross from Diogo Dalot.

Dalot added the third after a solo run in the 67th.

AZ coast past Rijeka as Napoli bounce back

After AZ Alkmaar overcame a slew of coronavirus cases to upset Napoli 1-0 last week, the Dutch side earned a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Rijeka in Group F on Thursday.

Albert Gudmundsson scored two goals for Alkmaar.

Napoli recovered from the home loss with a 1-0 away win at Real Sociedad, ending a four-game winning streak for the hosts.

Piotr Zielinski and Elif Elmas were back in the Napoli squad for the first time in almost a month after the midfielders tested positive for the coronavirus.

Best of the rest

Villarreal went a goal down at Qarabag in the 78th minute before coming back for a 3-1 victory in Group I, where Maccabi Tel-Aviv also won 2-1 away at Sivasspor.

Wolfsberg has a perfect record in Group K after winning 4-1 at Feyenoord, with Michael Liendl scoring a hat trick. His first two goals came from penalties.

CSKA Moscow played to a 0-0 draw with Dinamo Zagreb.

Hoffenheim overcame a couple of coronavirus cases to beat Gent 4-1 away in Group L. Red Star Belgrade outplayed Czech club Liberec 5-1.

Roma was held 0-0 by CSKA Sofia in Group A while Cluj drew 1-1 with Young Boys Bern.

In Group C, Nice bounced back from a 6-2 loss to Leverkusen in the previous round with Amine Gouiri scoring the winner. Also Slavia Prague took its first three points by defeating Leverkusen 1-0.

Pizzi two goals for Benfica while Luca Waldschmidt also converted a penalty in the second half as the hosts beat Standard Liege 3-0 to earn their second win in Group D. Rangers defeated Lech 1-0, joining Benfica atop Group D.

PSV won 2-1 at Omonoia after Donyell Malen scored his second goal in injury time in Group E, where Granada was held 0-0 by PAOK.

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