(Football news) West Ham moved closer to the knockout stage of the Europa League with a 3-0 win over Genk at the London Stadium. The Hammers enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first half but failed to create clear cut opportunities with Michail Antonio given some time off. However, West Ham snatched a goal in the 45+1 minute through Craig Dowson who scored from his shoulder from an Aaron Cresswell corner.
With a slender one goal lead, West Ham’s second half performance was largely similar to the first, with opportunities few and far between despite dominating Genk in terms of ball possession. The London based side then got some breathing room after scoring two back-to-back goals within 72 seconds to all but assure a victory. A towering header by Issa Diop from Cresswell’s delivery doubled the scoring in the 57th minute while Jarrod Bowen dispossessed Kristian Thorstvedt on the wing to score West Ham’s third goal in the 58th minute.
Meanwhile at the Ibrox Stadium, a must win encounter between Rangers and Brondby was underway after the Scottish side lost their first two fixtures in Group A. However, Steven Gerrard’s side put on a perfect display as Balogun opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a powerful header. Kemar Roofe doubled the scoring at the half hour mark from a tap in which stood due to VAR’s intervention after the assistant referee had initially ruled it out. With this result Rangers are now third in the group, one point behind Sparta Prague and six points behind Lyon.
Celtic revived their Europa League campaign after a 2-0 victory over Ferencvaros in the Europa League at Celtic Park. Despite little to separate the two sides in the first half, Kyogo Furuhashi gave the hosts a lead in the 57th minute with his ninth goal for the club. Celtic were unfortunate to take the lead five minutes later when their captain Callum McGregor’s penalty kick was saved by Ferencvaros goalkeeper Denes Dibusz but it didn’t really matter as David Turnbull doubled the lead nine minutes from time to wrap up the three points. With this result, Celtic are third in Group G, three points behind Bayer Leverkusen and Real Betis.
