EUROPA League
ARSENAL’S EUROPA LEAGUE WIN HERALDS FANS RETURN TO TOP LEVEL FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND
For the first time in 270 days, fans were back inside a Premier League ground as Arsenal welcomed 2,000 supporters into the Emirates for Thursday’s (Dec 3) routine 4-1 Europa League win over Rapid Vienna.
The sparse crowd in a 60,000 capacity stadium, were well distanced between two stands and in high spirits despite the Gunners’ poor form of late in the English top-flight.
Outside the ground fans held up a banner reading: “Home at last, Thank you NHS” in tribute to those working on the front line battling coronavirus in the health service.
Arsenal’s last home match with a crowd was back in March prior to a three-month stoppage of the sport due to the pandemic.
Since returning in June, top-flight football has been played behind closed doors with Arsenal fans missing out on seeing their side win the FA Cup and Community Shield at Wembley.
“It’s been a long nine months since the last game,” said Javed Singh. “I’m excited, it’s a bit of a dead rubber game but good to be back in the stadium. Just great to see a game in person.”
Despite Arsenal having already booked their place in the Europa League knockout stages, demand from fans to be one of the lucky few back through the gates crashed the club website on Saturday morning.
“It’s one of those games you will look back on that we were the first ones in the stadium,” said Dan Anderson, who attended the game with his brother as normal.
“It’s just getting back to normal. You work hard all week and to have that reward to be able to go to a game at the weekend or at night is what you want.”
However, it was not a return to normality for everyone. Pubs that would typically be crammed with fans on matchday around the stadium remained shut with London still under tier two restrictions meaning alcohol cannot be served without food.
Restrictions remain even tighter in other parts of England in Tier three such as Manchester and Birmingham where fans remain shut out.
“Football is all about you, the fans – we have missed you and we are so happy to be welcoming you back,” said Arsenal skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a video played before kick-off.
Club mascot Gunnersaurus was also back after the controversy that saw the club employee, Jerry Quy, who played the role since 1993, let go amid cost-cutting measures before Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil stepped in to cover his salary.
Playing an entire season without crowds would cost Premier League clubs an estimated £700 million (S$1.2 billion) and the need to make the most of the fans’ return was evident with Arsenal’s “Armoury” club shop reopened.
The atmosphere inspired a much-changed side on the field as manager Mikel Arteta looked ahead of Sunday’s North London derby against Premier League leaders Tottenham.
Spurs were the target of the first chants once the action got underway, showing some things never change no matter the circumstances.
There was soon something to cheer as Alexandre Lacazette smashed in a stunning long-range strike top open the scoring on 10 minutes and ran to celebrate in front of the fans.
Pablo Mari quickly headed home a second on his first appearance since March.
Eddie Nketiah added a third before half-time before Kohya Kitagawa’s consolation for the Austrians drew pantomime boos from the crowd.
Substitute Emile Smith Rowe rounded off the scoring on a night that will be best remembered for what happened off the field.
-AFP
Four-times Europa League winner Unai Emery booked an astonishing sixth final in the competition as a manager on Thursday when his Aston Villa team swept aside Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their all-English semi-final.
The 54-year-old Spaniard has won three times with Sevilla (2014, 2015, 2016) and once with Villarreal (2021) – either side of a defeat with Arsenal (2019) – deservedly earning him the epithet “Mr Europa League” from some fans and media.
Now he goes to the 2026 final seeking a fifth title, this time with Aston Villa against Bundesliga side Freiburg.
“His track record speaks for itself,” said Villa striker Ollie Watkins, heaping praise on his boss as the man to guarantee Europa League success. “We need to go and win it now.”
Emery was delighted with how his team overturned a 1-0 deficit to Forest in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final to score four times at home and win 4-1 on aggregate.
“Now we have to look to the final,” he said, hoping that Villa will do “something fantastic” for their fans.
Though thrilled at Thursday’s win, Emery left the pitch quickly after the final whistle, pumping his fist a few times at the crowd before letting his players enjoy the moment with fans
He and his Villa side will be favourites at the Europa League final in Istanbul on May 20, but Emery was taking nothing for granted. “Of course German teams are so difficult, their coaches, their players are so good,” he added of the upcoming opponents.
-Reuters
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List of teams which have qualified for the next round of the Europa League after the league phase concluded on Thursday, ranked by table position:
Directly to the round of 16:
1. Olympique Lyonnais (France)
2. Aston Villa (England)
3. Midtjylland (Denmark)
4. Real Betis (Spain)
5. Porto (Portugal)
6. Braga (Portugal)
7. Freiburg (Germany)
8. AS Roma (Italy)
Knockout phase play-off places (seeded)
9. Genk (Belgium)
10. Bologna (Italy)
11. VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
12. Ferencvaros (Hungary)
13. Nottingham Forest (England)
14. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
15. Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
16. Celta Vigo (Spain)
Knockout phase play-off places (unseeded)
17. PAOK (Greece)
18. Lille (France)
19. Fenerbahce (Turkey)
20. Panathinaikos (Greece)
21. Celtic (Scotland)
22. Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
23. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
24. SK Brann (Norway)
-Reuters
UEFA Europa League – Aston Villa v RB Salzburg – Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain – January 29, 2026 Aston
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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept any away fan tickets for their Europa League match at Aston Villa next month, even if local authorities reverse the decision to ban their supporters, they said on Monday.
The ban followed safety concerns raised by British Police, who cited potential protests outside Villa Park, following demonstrations at Israel’s recent World Cup qualifiers in Oslo and Udine.
“From hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Aston Villa announced the decision last week, saying they were following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), who are responsible for issuing safety certificates for games at Villa Park.
West Midlands Police described the match as high risk, past incidents, including violent confrontations and hate crime offences involving Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters ahead of a November 2024 game in Amsterdam.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
Villa are third in the Europa League standings while Maccabi Tel Aviv are 30th after two rounds.
-Reuters
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