Football
ESPN staff 7y

Man United stunned at Fenerbahce as Aritz Aduriz nets 5, Saints beat Inter

Manchester United's troubles away from home in Europe continued in a 2-1 defeat at Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday as Paul Pogba limped off injured.

United, who are winless in their last nine European away games and have lost eight of them, looked out of sorts as Moussa Sow's second-minute overhead kick and a Jeremain Lens free kick provided the Turkish side with three points.

Jose Mourinho's side made the worst possible start to the game, falling behind in spectacular fashion in the second minute when Hasan Ali Kaldirim's left-wing cross was met clinically by Sow.

United were handed another blow when Pogba was forced out of the game in the 29th minute with a dead leg after a challenge from Josef de Souza. The France international tried to play on but was eventually replaced by Ibrahimovic with Rooney dropping back into midfield.

Fenerbahce doubled their advantage in the 59th minute when Jeremain Lens' sweetly struck free kick, which came about as the result of an Ibrahimovic foul, left De Gea wrong-footed.

The hosts had a number of chances to further widen the lead, but Wayne Rooney got a goal back in the 89th minute with a long-range blast and though there were some nervy moments at the end, there would be no equaliser.

Man United are in third place in Group A, a point outside of the qualification spots after Zorya earned a 1-1 draw against 10-man Feyenoord.

The Dutch side took a 15th-minute lead when Dirk Kuyt did well to keep the ball from going out of play and sent in a high cross for Nicolai Jorgensen to score.

But before the break Eric Botteghin picked up two bookings in as many minutes, the second for a handball in a box, and though Rafael Forster saw his initial penalty saved by Brad Jones, he followed up to put in the rebound for the equaliser.

Aritz Aduriz scored all five goals as Athletic Bilbao secured a much-needed 5-3 win over Genk in Group F play.

The Spanish side came into the round having taken just three points from three matches. But Aduriz scored in the eighth, 24th and 44th minutes to give them a 3-1 advantage heading into the break.

Wilfred Ndidi pulled another back for Genk six minutes after the restart, but Aduriz stepped up once again, bursting onto a Yeray through ball and slotting past a helpless Marco Bizot for his fourth of the game.

Tino-Sven Susic reduced the deficit to 4-3 with a 79th-minute goal, but Aduriz delivered his fifth from the penalty spot to seal his memorable night.

Also in Group F, Sassuolo slumped to a late 2-2 draw against Rapid Vienna in Italy.

Gregoire Defrel gave the hosts an early advantage with left-footed finish from an angle on 34 minutes. And Lorenzo Pellegrini seemingly sealed the points in first-half stoppage time with a well-taken rolled free kick from just outside the semi-circle.

However, Matej Jelic struck for the visitors five minutes from time to ensure a nervy finish, and Giorgi Kvilitaia completed the comeback on 90 minutes to earn Rapid a valuable point on the night.

Genk and Athletic are level on six points atop the group, with Rapid Vienna and Sassuolo both only a single point back.

Inter Milan's woes continued as they wasted a half-time lead and fell 2-1 at Premier League side Southampton.

Mauro Icardi provided Inter with the lead in the 33rd minute, gathering the ball and putting in a rebound after Ivan Perisic's shot was cleared off the line.

Southampton were handed a lifeline in the final play of the first half when Perisic was adjudged to have handled the ball, only for Samir Handanovic saved Dusan Tadic's poor penalty.

But Southampton rallied in the second half thanks to two fortunate bounces. First, Virgil van Dijk tapped home the rebound after Oriol Romeu's looping shot came back off the crossbar.

In the 68th minute, Tadic's cross was deflected by Danilo D'Ambrosio, then bounced off the knee of Yuto Nagatomo and into the net to put Saints ahead.

Inter remained bottom of Group K while Southampton are in second place, though they still trail leaders Sparta Prague by two points after the Czech side beat Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2-0.

Hapoel's Ben Bitton redirected Borek Dockal's free kick into his own net on 23 minutes before David Lafata tapped in a fine low cross from Dockal 15 minutes later.

Giuliano's brace helped Zenit St Petersburg stay perfect to win Group D with two games to play after a 2-1 win over Irish side Dundalk.

The breakthrough came three minutes before half-time when Alexander Kerzhakov dispossessed Dundalk defender Brian Gartland and ran into the box before passing across for Giuliano to score.

Dundalk found an equaliser early in the second half with Giuliano's header in the centre circle went back towards his own goal and Daryl Horgan pounced on it and completed a long run with a fine finish.

But Dundalk's resistance ended on 78 minutes when Mauricio kept the ball from crossing the end line and completed a short pass for Giuliano to score his second.

Zenit opened an eight-point lead and advanced when Maccabi Tel Aviv earned a goalless draw with AZ Alkmaar.

The Israeli club and Dundalk are level on four points with the same goal difference, while AZ have two points.

Ajax also advanced to the knockout stage with a comfortable 3-2 defeat of Celta Vigo at the Amsterdam Arena.

The Group G leaders now have 10 points from four matches thanks to goals from Kasper Dolberg, Hakim Ziyech and Amin Younes on the night.

Celta, who remain in second place in the group, conceded four minutes before the break, when Dolberg rounded a defender outside the box and fired low and hard past Ruben Blanco.

Ziyech doubled the advantage minutes after the hour mark with a tap-in at the far post to complete a fine pass from Bertrand Traore on the right.

And Younes finished of fthe Ajax scoring four minutes later with a adept solo run that saw the Germany youth international cut in on his right and curl past a helpless Blanco and into the far corner.

John Guidetti and Iago Aspas added consolation strikes in the 79th and 86th minutes, respectively, but it wasn't enough to keep Ajax from qualification.

In the other Group G match, Ibrahima Cisse and a Ishak Belfodil brace helped power Standard Liege past 10-man Panathinaikos 3-0 at the Apostolos Nikolaidis.

Cisse struck first in the 61st minute with an unstoppable blast from 35 yards out to leave a stretching Luke Steele no chance in the Panathinaikos net.

Belfodil then added a second two minutes before Paul-Jose Mpoku was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 77th.

And Belfodil secured his double in second-half stoppage time to give Standard -- now tied with Celta on points -- the deserved victory.

Schalke maintained their 100 percent record and booked their place in the knockout stages of the competition with a 2-0 win against Krasnodar. First-half goals from Junior Caicara and Nabil Bentaleb in a four-minute span secured the victory.

Elsewhere in Group I, Nice were again unable to match the form that has seen them lead Ligue 1 in the early weeks of the season as they lost for the third time in four European outings this campaign, going down 2-0 against Salzburg.

Hee-Chan Hwang scored in the 72nd and 73rd minutes while Mario Balotelli failed to find the net for the hosts.

Fiorentina extended their unbeaten Europa League run to four games with a 3-0 win against Slovan Liberec.

Josip Ilicic provided a penalty on the half-hour mark before Nikola Kalinic rounded the keeper to double the lead before the break. Sebastian Cristoforo added a third on 73 minutes to put the game to bed.

The Viola have a three-point lead in Group J over FK Qarabag, who were 1-0 winners at PAOK courtesy of Michel's 69th-minute strike.

Edin Dzeko scored a brace as Roma defeated Austria Vienna 4-2 in a clash between joint-Group E leaders on Thursday.

Dzeko immediately cancelled out a Olarenwaju Kayode's second-minute strike by sweeping home a low Bruno Peres from the right side to even the score at 1-1.

And Roma stalwart Daniele De Rossi set the Serie A side on their way just after the quarter-hour mark, cleaning up a spilled save from a corner and punching into an empty net.

Dzeko added a second to pad the lead on 65 minutes -- the Bosnian striker collecting his own rebound off the post and steering the ball in from four yards out.

Radja Nainggolan added to the rout in the 78th, tucking his shot into the far corner after pouncing on a loose ball inside the Vienna box. And Alexander Grunwald completed the scoreline, scoring Vienna's second just before the final whistle.

The win gives the table-topping Giallorossi eight points from four matches. Austria Vienna sit in second with five.

In Group E's other match, Astra Giurgiu and Viktoria Plzen drew 1-1 at the National Arena.

Alexandru Stan opened the scoring for Astra in the 19th minute, but Michal Krmencik struck back six minutes later to earn the point for the visitors.

Nicolae Stanciu scored twice as Anderlecht defeated Bundesliga club Mainz 6-1 to top Group C on goal difference.

The Belgian club took the lead on nine minutes when Stanciu's attempt to cross from the wing crept inside the near post instead. But Mainz were back level six minutes later when Pablo De Blasis pounced on a poor defensive header following a corner.

Stanciu scored his second shortly before half-time when he took a touch at the top of the box before firing across goal and into the net, and Youri Tielemans added a third from distance after the hour mark following a bad clearance.

Anderlecht then poured in three late goals, with Lukasz Teodorczyk scoring twice either side of Massimo Bruno, all after the 89th minute.

Mainz are three points adrift of the qualification places after St Etienne won 2-1 at Qabala to keep pace with Anderlecht.

The hosts took the lead when Ruslan Gurbanov headed home from close range after a wild goal-mouth scramble, but in first-half stoppage time Oussama Tannane brough the Ligue 1 clubs level with a long a free kick that somehow slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Dmitriy Bezotosnyi.

Robert Beric then put St Etienne in front eight minutes into the second half with a low strike from the top of the box, and the Azerbaijani club were eliminated.

Shakhtar Donetsk secured first place in Group H, cruising 5-3 at Gent for a fourth straight win in the competition.

Although Kalifa Coulibaly provided the hosts with a lead inside the first 18 seconds, Shakhtar equalised through a Marlos penalty on 36 minutes, then took the lead five minutes later with Taison on target.

Taras Stepanenko's header made it 3-1 just before the break, and Fred sealed the victory after the break, though Taison then came off injured.

The result was never really in doubt though the teams continued to trade goals, Jeremy Perbet first reducing the deficit to two before Ivan Ordec restored it to three, and Danijel Milicevic capped the scoring for the Belgian club late on.

Braga are in pole position to advance alonside Shakhtar after a 2-1 win over Konyaspor with both teams finishing with 10 men.

Dimitar Rangelov's opener on the half-hour mark for Konyaspor was cancelled out four minutes later by Emiliano Velazquez, but though Mauro was sent off for the Portuguese side five minutes later, Wilson Eduardo put them ahead with a free kick in first-half stoppage time.

Konyaspor's hopes of an equaliser were dealt a blow when Nejc Skubic was sent off after picking up two bookings either side of half-time.

Villarreal were stunned at home by new Group L leaders Osmanlispor 2-1 at the Estadio El Madrigal.

The Yellow Submarine came into the day leading the group by a point, but goals in each half from Pierre Webo and Raul Rusescu cancelled out Rodri's 48th-minute equaliser to help the Turkish take home the points.

Osmanlispor, now on seven points, lead the group by two points, while Villarreal now sit in second with five.

FC Zurich and Steaua Bucharest drew 0-0 in Group L's other match. The result puts Zurich joint-second in the table with Villarreal, while Steaua sit last with three.

APOEL top Group B after defeating 10-man Young Boys 1-0, Pieros Sotiriou bringing the ball down in the box to score just two minutes after Kevin Mbabu was sent off for the Swiss side in the second half.

The Cypriot club lead Olympiakos by two points after the Greek giants managed a 1-1 draw at FC Astana in Kazakhstan.

The hosts took the lead just eight minutes in when Patrick Twumasi ran into the box and crossed for Djordje Despotovic to tap in, but Olympiakos equalised before the half-hour mark through Seba's header.

Andre Martins nearly won it for Olympiakos with five minutes to play, but his shot from distance came back off the underside of the bar.

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