Liverpool moved closer to the Europa League knockout stages on Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise, while Brighton came back to gain their first European point in a dramatic 2-2 draw at Marseille. Both teams are now in third place.
Romelu Lukaku was one of the goal scorers for Roma in their 4-0 victory over Servette, while West Ham established a new record for the longest undefeated run by an English club in Europe with their 2-1 win against Freiburg.
At Anfield, Jurgen Klopp fielded a strong team with the goal of helping Liverpool secure first place in Group E and advance to the round of 16 without having to play a play-in game.
Ryan Gravernberch scored his first goal for Liverpool just before halftime when the custodian for Saint-Gilloise, Anthony Moris, made an error when he was faced with a shot from Trent Alexander-Arnold. Moris had been in outstanding form earlier in the match when he stopped Mohamed Salah from scoring.
Alexis Mac Allister was substituted in by Klopp at halftime because Kevin Mac Allister, who had begun for the Belgians, was the player that Kevin would be facing.
“Today my dad was here, but I’m sure everybody in our family was watching the TV, so it was special,” said Alexis Mac Allister. “Today our family was united in our enjoyment of the game.””I guess he (his dad) cried a little bit.”
Diogo Jota broke free on goal for Liverpool in stoppage time and finished the game with a level head, forcing Liverpool to wait until the last minute to clinch the three points.
On Sunday, the Reds take their Premier League match against the Seagulls on the road to Brighton. It is possible that the Seagulls will be exhausted following their attempts to salvage a point in southern France.
Despite having a poor start to the season, Marseille was able to go up 2-0 courtesy to two goals scored in the span of two minutes halfway through the first half.
The French team took the lead thanks to a goal scored by Chancel Mbemba, and then Jordan Veretout extended their advantage to 2-0 after a mistake made by the captain of Brighton, Lewis Dunk.
The momentum shifted for Brighton when Kaoru Mitoma found Pascal Gross for a goal that reduced the deficit in half. Prior to this moment, it seemed like Brighton would suffer a third straight loss across all competitions.
After Tariq Lamptey was brought down inside the box with two minutes remaining, Joao Pedro then tied the game from the penalty spot to put Brighton only one point behind Marseille and Ajax in Group B.
Pascal Gross, a German midfielder for Brighton, scored the opening goal for his team during their match against Olympique Marseille on October 5, 2023 in Marseille. Gross was joined in celebration by his teammates on the left side of the photo. Photo by the AFP.
“I think we are not playing well, it’s a very tough period for us in this moment,” said Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi. “It’s a very tough period for us right now.”
“To finish the first half with a score of 2-0, this response is unbelievable. Because of that, I am overjoyed.”
After coming back from a goal down to tie Ajax 1-1 and earn four points, AEK finds itself in an unexpected position as the group’s leader.
The record was established by West Ham.
After going 17 games without suffering a loss in European competition, West Ham has put themselves in excellent position to go to the round of 16.
David Moyes, the manager of the Hammers, said that “it’s a brilliant achievement,” and that he had told the players that “we need to keep it going.”
“Winning the game tonight was most important.”
After just eight minutes of play, the Europa Conference League champions took the lead thanks to a stunning header from Lucas Paqueta.
At the beginning of the second half, Roland Sallai tied the score for Freiburg.
Nayef Aguerd scored for the Hammers with a header from a corner kick taken by James Ward-Prowse. The Hammers were not going to be denied.
In Jose Mourinho’s tenure as coach of Roma, the club’s success in European tournaments has also been a highlight, and the Italians were able to set aside their shaky performance in Serie A to beat Servette.
Lukaku started things off with a goal, and then Andrea Belotti scored a pair of goals each side of a Lorenzo Pellegrini goal to give Roma a perfect record in Group G after two games.
Rangers were humiliated by Aris Limassol by a score of 2-1, despite the firing of manager Michael Beale, and it did not seem that the firing had any effect on the team’s performance.
Steven Davis, a former midfielder for Glasgow Rangers, assumed interim command of Aris but was only able to see them win their first ever group stage match in the European Championship.
On a night that would go down in history for the Cypriots, Alex Moucketou-Moussounda and Shavy Babicka scored goals, while Abdallah Sima’s header for Rangers was little more than a consolation.
Real Betis overcame their loss to Rangers by a score of 1-0 with a victory against Sparta Prague by a score of 2-1. As a result of this victory, all four teams in Group C now have three points.
John McGinn’s header in the 94th minute gave Aston Villa a 1-0 victory against Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League. This victory came after Aston Villa had left it quite late to take down the Bosnian champions.
After losing to Legia Warsaw by a score of 3-2 two weeks ago, Villa was in desperate need of a victory like this one.
According to McGinn, “It’s huge because of how we started the group,” and he expressed this with great emphasis. “Tonight was a must win.”