Aston Villa crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday, losing their play-off tie against unheralded Rapid Vienna just three days after handing mighty Liverpool a humbling Premier League defeat.
In their second leg tie, played at a half-empty Villa Park, Martin O’Neill’s team were undone by striker Nikica Jelavic grabbing a crucial away goal 14 minutes from time.
A James Milner penalty and a second-half strike from John Carew had handed Villa a 2-1 aggregate lead.
PHOTO: AP
But Jelavic, who had also scored in the first leg, had the final say, making the English side rue a first-half penalty miss by Ashley Young.
O’Neill said: “We should have got through. We should have had the game out of sight before they scored and it was unfortunate.”
“They exerted some pressure at 2-0, which you would be expecting, but I thought we had a number of chances to go from 2-0 to 3-0 and that would have sealed the tie,” he said. “I am desperately disappointed that we are not through.”
PHOTO: AP
Villa’s English Premier League rivals Everton and Fulham survived testing trips to reach the group stages.
Everton drew 1-1 with Sigma Olomouc in the Czech Republic for a 5-1 aggregate win, but they had to play for more than 80 minutes with 10 men after defender Tony Hibbert was sent off for a professional foul.
The Merseysiders, 4-0 ahead from the first leg, went in front through South African international Steven Pienaar just before half-time with Pavel Sultes’ 80th-minute goal a mere consolation for the Czechs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“It was a job well done,” said Everton boss David Moyes. “I’m pleased we got through, it was important for us. I thought we got better as the game went on. They put us under pressure but we defended well enough and got a goal ourselves.”
Roy Hodgson’s Fulham made the exhausting trip to eastern Russia where they went down 1-0 to Amkar Perm for whom Martin Kushev scored in the last minute, but the Londoners still secured a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Russian side Zenit St Petersburg, last year’s UEFA Cup champions, were knocked out by Portuguese club Nacional.
The Russians had trailed 4-3 from the first leg but looked to be on course for the next stage when Fatih Tekke gave them a 34th-minute lead to level the tie on aggregate, and a key advantage in terms of away goals.
However, with just a minute left, Ruben Micael scored to put the Portuguese side through.
Former England manager Steve McClaren saw his Twente side draw 0-0 at Qarabag in Baku for a 3-1 aggregate win, while fellow Dutch contenders Ajax won 2-1 at Slovan Bratislava for a 7-1 aggregate victory.
Two of the tournament favorites cruised through.
Francesco Totti scored a hat-trick as AS Roma crushed MFK Kosice of Slovakia 7-1 for a 10-4 aggregate, while Spain’s Villarreal defeated NAC Breda of the Netherlands 6-1 for a 9-2 win over two legs.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their