In yet another full slate of Europa League games, five Yanks started for their respective teams with Tim Chandler and Frankfurt, along with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Celtic registering victories.
Brøndby IF 1 – 1 Rangers
Having found the back of the net recently in league play, Christian Cappis was given the nod as the Danish champions hosted Steven Gerard’s Rangers in Copenhagen. The Texan played for just over an hour, coming off in the 63rd minute with his team leading, thanks to a little help from the opposition.
The breakthrough didn’t come until stoppage time in the first half although the traveling Scottish fans thought they had taken an early lead when, from a corner kick. Alfredo Morelos got his head on the ball and sent it into the back of the net. The flag went up however and VAR confirmed the off sides call to be the correct one.
Rangers were the more aggressive team in the first half and looked like the team that would score but things didn’t go according to plan. It was actually the American who could have picked up the assist, because it was Cappis who took the corner kick that Leon Balogun put into the back of his own net.
You couldn’t blame the Danes for thinking that they would collect all the points, getting revenge from their recent 2-0 loss to the Gers in Glasgow but in the 56th minute, Ianis Hagi came off the bench and the son of the Romanian legend Gheorghe, rescued the point.
When Ryan Kent got the ball in the middle of the park, he charged goal wards and spotted the Romanian’s run, who got around a defender, received the pass and slotted it into the bottom corner past Mads Hermansen between the posts.
The draw leaves the Danish boys in last place in their group, though just a couple of points out of second place so there is still everything to play for in Europe. They’ll switch their attention to league play however when they welcome OB over the weekend.
Ferencvaros 2 – 3 Celtic
In what could have been a Yank vs Yank battle, Henry Wingo was left on the bench as his Hungarian team suffered a loss at home against Cameron Carter-Vicker’s Glaswegian team. The Tottenham loanee played the entire game in a central defensive role.
The scoring started early on as Celtic’s new signing from Vissel Kobe, Kyogo Furuhashi, found the back of the net after just three minutes thanks to some poor defensive passing. And it was a Hoops player to score the next goal as well but unfortunately Josip Juranović beat his own keeper to allow the Hungarians back into the game.
Joe Hart was called upon to make a half decent save at the 22 minute mark from Eldar Ćivić’s shot. But it was immediately at the other end where Adam Bogdán had to pick the ball out of the back of his net. Callum McGregor sent the ball to Jota on the left flank and the Portuguese winger charged forward and shot from the edge of the box, tucking the ball just inside the far post.
The visitors weren’t done yet and continued their relentless attacks on goal although the Hungarians also had a few chances early after the intermission.
The third goal eventually came on the hour mark. McGregor got the ball and the Celtic captain charged forward and picked out his Japanese team mate. The ball then went to Liel Abada and the Israeli winger got off a sweet shot that beat the Hungarian keeper.
The Green Eagles however didn’t roll over but fought back and again got back into the game with Myrto Uzuni’s 86th minute strike. They could not however find the equalizer before the final whistle.
Both teams return to league action on Sunday with Wingo and Ferencvaros traveling to first place Kisvárda, where a win will put them into the top spot. Carter-Vickers and Celtic will also hit the road, traveling up to Dundee.
Galatasaray 1 – 1 Lokomotiv Moscow
DeAndre Yedlin put in a full shift as his Turkish team shared the points with the Russians of Lokomotiv Moscow in this Group E clash. The scoring didn’t get started until late in the first half however when Sofiane Feghouli struck in the 43rd minute. The Russians scored their’s in the 72nd minute when Konstatin Maradishvili set up François Kamano.
The win sees the Turks maintaining the lead in Group E with just two games left in the group stages.
Next up for Yedlin and company will be a trip within the city of Istanbul when they travel to take on Fatih Karagümrük in a Sunday matinee.
Olympiakos 1 – 2 Frankfurt
Timmy Chandler and Frankfurt registered their third consecutive Europa League victory as they travelled to Greece and flew back home with all the points and the top position in Group D. The American started on the wing for Eintracht and played the 90 minutes in the victory.
Things didn’t start well for the Germans when they were caught off guard in the 12th minute. Henry Onyekuru, the Nigerian with the bright red hair raced up the left wing and put in a perfect cross into the box for team mate Youssef El-Arabi who shot right past Kevin Trapp.
The goal was perhaps a wake-up call because five minutes later Frankfurt were level. Rafael Borre picked out the run of Daichi Kamada and the man from Japan got between two defenders and then shot into the back of the net.
With time running out and the Greeks thinking that they secured a point, Chandler provided the cross that Jens Hauge shot and scored in the 91st minute.
Next up will be a league clash on the road against Julian Green and Furth.
Notes
Same Vines started for Royal Antwerp but he and his team mates came out on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat against Turkish side Fenerbahce in Belgium. Up next will be a league game against Anderlecht.
Mark McKenzie stayed rooted to Genk’s bench when they hosted West Ham United. The Belgian side took a very early lead but then gave up a pair of goals before fighting back for a valuable point thanks to an own goal from Czech midfielder Tomáš Souček. Next up, where the American will hope to be in the line-up, is a league game where they’ll host Cercle Brugge.
Konrad de la Fuente never got off the bench as his Marseille side played Italian’s Lazio to a 2-2 draw thanks to a late Dmitri Payet equalizer. They’ll be hoping for a better result and the American will be hoping for some minutes when they host Metz on Sunday afternoon.
