EUROPA League
Ndidi’s goal keeps Leicester’s Europa League hopes alive
(Reuters)
Leicester City beat Legia Warsaw 3-1 on Thursday (Nov 25) to leap from bottom to top of Europa League Group C and keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
The Premier League side have eight points from five games, one more than Spartak Moscow and Napoli and two ahead of Legia, with all four teams still in contention to advance ahead of the last round of games.
Napoli, beaten 2-1 at Spartak on Wednesday, host Leicester while the Russian side visit Legia on Dec 9.
Patson Daka fired Leicester ahead in the 10th minute with a clinical finish and James Maddison made it 2-0 with a superb shot on the turn before Filip Mladenovic pulled one back for Legia.
Mladenovic swept in a rebound after Kasper Schmeichel saved Mahir Emreli’s penalty but Wilfred Ndidi, who gave away the spot-kick, made amends with a towering header from Maddison’s corner in the 33rd minute.
Rangers advanced to the knockout stages from Group A with a match to spare after Alfredo Morelos scored twice to secure a 2-0 home win over Sparta Prague, as they joined runaway group leaders Olympique Lyonnais in advancing.
The Colombian striker opened the scoring in the 15th minute and added the second in the 49th with a header into an empty net as he intercepted a poor pass by Sparta defender Filip Panak across his own area.
Lyon stayed top after two goals from Rayan Cherki and another by Islam Slimani gave them a 3-1 win at Danish side Brondby.
Monaco advanced from Group B with a 2-1 home victory over Real Sociedad as goals from Kevin Volland and Youssouf Fofana cancelled out Alexander Isak’s effort for the visitors.
Vinicius and Bruma scored for PSV Eindhoven in a 2-0 win over visiting Sturm Graz and the Dutch side need a draw in their final group match at Sociedad to progress.
Late substitute Tiquinho Soares scored a 90th-minute winner for Olympiakos to sink Fenerbahce 1-0 in Group D and send the Greek side through along with Eintracht Frankfurt, who stayed top after a 2-2 home draw against Antwerp.
–Reuters
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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