(Football news) In another action packed set of midweek fixtures in the Europa League, Leicester City and Napoli endured shock defeats. Leicester lost 1-0 to Legia Warsaw in Poland after Brendan Rogers made wholesale changes to his side, keeping one eye on the Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace. Despite the cagey encounter between the two sides, Mahir Emreli’s low shot past Jannik Vestergaard’s legs was enough to secure all three points.
Russian team Spartak Moscow defeated Napoli 3-2 at the Diego Maradona Stadium to end the Italian side's unbeaten run. Despite Napoli scoring in 11 seconds thanks to Eljif Elmas, it was Spartak Moscow who had the last laugh as the tide of the game turned once Mario Rui got a red card in the 29th minute. Quincy Promes scored the equalizer while Mikhail Ignatov helped his side get the lead. A stoppage time consolation goal by Victor Osimhen was not enough for Luciano Spalletti’s team, who have enjoyed a positive start to their season so far.
Premier League side West Ham made it two wins out of two in the Europa League after securing a 2-0 victory over Rapid Vienna. The London based side was unlucky after hitting the woodwork twice before Declan Rice converted a cross by Michail Antonio in the 29th minute while Said Benrahma sealed the victory with a low shot in stoppage time. The Hammers are now on top of Group H with six points from two games, three points ahead of Dinamo Zagreb who defeated Genk 3-0.
German side Bayer Leverkusen enjoyed their sixth Europa League Group stage victory in a row with an emphatic 4-0 scoreline against Celtic. Goals from Piero Hincapie, Florian Wirtz, Lucas Alario (pen) and Amine Adli did more than enough to clinch all three points at Celtic Park with the result leaving the Scottish side bottom of Group G with zero points. However, Celtic will face Ferencvaros who are also winless.
It seemed like a difficult night for Scottish football in general when Celtic’s rivals Rangers also endured a 1-0 defeat to Sparta Praha. Dávid Hancko’s skillfully flicked header from a corner by Jakub Pešek was enough to secure a win and hand Rangers a second defeat in Group A. The Czech football team could have doubled their lead when Pešek hit the crossbar at the start of the second half. Unfortunately, the game was marred by racism directed towards Glen Kamara who was sent off in the 74th minute for an elbow on Michal Sacek. With this result, the Scottish side is at the bottom of Group A with no wins from two games and behind the likes of Lyon, Sparta Praha and Brondby.
