(Football news) Eddie Nketiah scored a second-half winner which gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory over FC Zurich to begin their 2022-23 Europa League Group A campaign on Thursday night. Marquinhos, who turned 19-year-old when he arrived at Arsenal from Sao Paulo this summer, opened the scoring on his debut for the visiting side  in the 16th minute but Mirlind Kryeziu equalised for FC Zurich from the penalty spot just before half-time with the teams going into the break with the scores tied at 1-1.

At half-time ,the unfortunate news of Queen Elizabeth II passing away at the age of 96 broke out and both teams observed a moment of silence before resuming play. A reshuffled Gunners side took an early lead when Nketiah sent a cross to Marquinhos, who fired the ball into the top corner at the end of a very swift counter-attack. The Londoners dominated the first half, but the hosts weathered the storm and levelled the scores on the stroke of half-time. Kryeziu coolly converted a penalty after Nketiah brought down Fidan Aliti in the penalty box. Nketiah then made amends with a header from Marquinhos' cross after the hour mark and Mikel Arteta's side saw his team earn all three points and the top spot in their group.

For Roma, their Europa League campaign got off to a poor start in Bulgaria when José Mourinho’s side were beaten 2-1 by Ludogorets. Brazilian midfielder Cauly opened the scoring with 18 minutes left to play in Bulgaria as Eldor Shomurdorov equalised for the Serie A side four minutes from time. Nonato, another Brazilian, scored the winner for the Bulgarian side two minutes later. The result rounds off a worrying few days for Mourinho’s side, who won the Europa Conference League last season after they were handed an embarrassing loss against Udinese when they were defeated 4-0 in their domestic league last Sunday. Their city rivals Lazio, however, got off to a winning start when they beat Feyenoord 4-2 in the Italian capital as former Inter player Matias Vecino scoring twice for the hosts.

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