Fener go top of UEFA Europa League Group A
With the Yellow Canaries beating Feyenoord 1-0 in the second week of the UEFA Europa League, they extended their unbeaten run to seven games in Europe and the win puts the Yellow Canaries atop Group A
Turkish powerhouses Fenerbahçe's improving form wouldn't even be stopped by in-form Feyenoord, who have won all seven matches in their domestic Eredivise league and beat English giants Manchester United in matchday one in Group A of the UEFA Europa League. Fenerbahçe beat Feyenoord 1-0 Thursday in the second week of the UEFA Europa League. The only goal of the match at the Ülker Stadium in Istanbul came in the 18th minute from the foot of Emmanuel Emenike.
The win puts the Yellow Canaries atop Group A with four points and the team has won six of its last seven European home games, with one draw. Feyenoord's loss is its first defeat after going unbeaten in its last 18 matches in the Dutch Eredivisie league.
Fenerbahçe's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was happy with the result and said, "Our players worked hard for this result. We had to win to continue our chances. Feyenoord is a good team. Our desire for the win was very high."
Feyenoord manager Giovanni Van Bronckhorst attributed the outcome to a lackluster first-half. "Our poor performance in the first half reflected in the result," he said at a post-match news conference.
In the other match in Group A, Manchester United got their Europa League campaign off the ground with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Zorya Luhansk at Old Trafford on Thursday and host Group A leaders Fenerbahçe in their next game on Oct. 20.Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho rued the "poisoned gift" of his side's fixture schedule as he contemplated a potentially seismic run of matches in October. They face a Monday night match at archrivals Liverpool, with a trip to Chelsea, in the Premier League, and a crunch game against Manchester City in the League Cup to follow.
"We could play Liverpool on the Saturday or the Sunday. We play Liverpool on the Monday," said Mourinho, whose side are level on points in Group A with Feyenoord.
"So maybe we don't have the best conditions, especially because we play against two top Premier League teams that don't play in European competition (Liverpool and Chelsea).
"We have this kind of poisoned gift of playing on the Monday that creates a very difficult situation. But we want to try to qualify for the next round. We want to try.
"Long time to go, almost a month. But we want to try so we play against Fenerbahçe with a team with possibilities to beat Fenerbahçe."
The other two Turkish teams, Osmanlıspor and Atiker Konyaspor, disappointed their fans. Ankara-based Osmanlıspor fell to Switzerland's Zurich 2-1 in an away match and Atiker Konyaspor were beaten by Gent 2-0 in Belgium. Zurich midfielder Marco Schonbachler gave his team the lead against Osmanlispor before half time. The visitors' Dutch midfielder Adam Maher equalized in the 73rd minute but Dzengis Cavusevic scored the winning goal for Zurich near the end of the game. After the loss in Switzerland, Spain's Villarreal have become leaders in Group L. Atiker Konyaspor prop up Group H after losing to Gent. The scorers for the Belgian team were Israeli midfielder Kenneth Saief and Brazilian midfielder Renato Neto. Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk are Group H leaders as they cruised past Portuguese team Braga 2-0.
The win puts the Yellow Canaries atop Group A with four points and the team has won six of its last seven European home games, with one draw. Feyenoord's loss is its first defeat after going unbeaten in its last 18 matches in the Dutch Eredivisie league.
Fenerbahçe's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was happy with the result and said, "Our players worked hard for this result. We had to win to continue our chances. Feyenoord is a good team. Our desire for the win was very high."
Feyenoord manager Giovanni Van Bronckhorst attributed the outcome to a lackluster first-half. "Our poor performance in the first half reflected in the result," he said at a post-match news conference.
In the other match in Group A, Manchester United got their Europa League campaign off the ground with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Zorya Luhansk at Old Trafford on Thursday and host Group A leaders Fenerbahçe in their next game on Oct. 20.Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho rued the "poisoned gift" of his side's fixture schedule as he contemplated a potentially seismic run of matches in October. They face a Monday night match at archrivals Liverpool, with a trip to Chelsea, in the Premier League, and a crunch game against Manchester City in the League Cup to follow.
"We could play Liverpool on the Saturday or the Sunday. We play Liverpool on the Monday," said Mourinho, whose side are level on points in Group A with Feyenoord.
"So maybe we don't have the best conditions, especially because we play against two top Premier League teams that don't play in European competition (Liverpool and Chelsea).
"We have this kind of poisoned gift of playing on the Monday that creates a very difficult situation. But we want to try to qualify for the next round. We want to try.
"Long time to go, almost a month. But we want to try so we play against Fenerbahçe with a team with possibilities to beat Fenerbahçe."
The other two Turkish teams, Osmanlıspor and Atiker Konyaspor, disappointed their fans. Ankara-based Osmanlıspor fell to Switzerland's Zurich 2-1 in an away match and Atiker Konyaspor were beaten by Gent 2-0 in Belgium. Zurich midfielder Marco Schonbachler gave his team the lead against Osmanlispor before half time. The visitors' Dutch midfielder Adam Maher equalized in the 73rd minute but Dzengis Cavusevic scored the winning goal for Zurich near the end of the game. After the loss in Switzerland, Spain's Villarreal have become leaders in Group L. Atiker Konyaspor prop up Group H after losing to Gent. The scorers for the Belgian team were Israeli midfielder Kenneth Saief and Brazilian midfielder Renato Neto. Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk are Group H leaders as they cruised past Portuguese team Braga 2-0.
Last Update: September 30, 2016 22:01