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UEFA Europa League wrap: Everton, Marseille, AC Milan move on

By Nicholas MendolaAug 24, 2017, 5:02 PM EDT
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Gylfi Sigurdsson marked the first start of his Everton career with a bang, hammering a goal over the keeper from just past half as the Toffees advanced to the UEFA Europa League’s Round of 16.

[ MORE: UCL congestion hammers Spurs ]

Elsewhere, Marseille and AC Milan moved on, Ajax was sent home, and USMNT prospect Ethan Horvath had a busy and rough night between the sticks in Greece.

Hajduk Split 1-1 (1-3 agg.) Everton

Josip Radosevic hit a rocket just before halftime to pull to within one of Everton, but new Toffees midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson sank the drama with a 46th minute marker.

The goal came from more than 40 yards out and meant Hajduk would need a three-goal win. The hosts got a prime chance to get one back when Ashley Williams felled his mark inside the 18, but Jordan Pickford robbed Said Ahmed Said with a quality diving stop of his penalty attempt.

AEK Athens 3-0 (3-0 agg.) Club Brugge

American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath was under siege, with the Greek hosts outshooting Brugge 14-4. Lazaros Christodoulopolous scored in the 27th minute and Andre Simoes nabbed two goals in the win.

Shkendija 0-1 (0-7 agg.) AC Milan

No six-spot this time, just Patrick Cutrone’s 13th minute finish to book Milan’s place in the group stage.

Marseille 3-0 (4-1 agg.) Domzale

Valere Germain scored twice and ex-Newcastle United attacker Florian Thauvin nabbed an 85th minute finish to ease the heavily favored Ligue 1 side into the next stage.

Elsewhere
AEK Larnaca 0-0 (1-3 agg.) Viktoria Plzen
Dynamo Kiev 3-1 (3-1 agg.) Maritimo
Oleksandria 1-2 (2-3 agg.) BATE Borisov
Red Bull Salzburg 4-0 (7-1 agg.) Viitorul Constanta
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2-2 (3-2 agg.) Rheindorf Altach
Ostersunds 2-0 (3-3 agg.) PAOK Salonika
Sheriff Tiraspol 0-0 (1-1 agg.) Legia Warsaw
Zenit Saint Petersburg 2-0 (2-1 agg.) Utrecht
Austria Wien 0-1 (2-2 agg.) NK Osijek
Crvena Zvedzda 2-1 (4-4 agg.) Krasnodar
Braga 3-2 (5-3 agg.) FH Hafnarfjordur
Rosenborg 3-2 (4-2 agg.) Ajax
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 (4-2 agg.) Panathinaikos
Videoton 0-4 (0-4 agg.) Partizan Belgrade
Skenderbeu 0-0 (1-1 agg.) Dinamo Zagreb
Midtjylland 1-1 (3-4 agg.) Apollon Limassol
Suduva 0-0 (0-2 agg.) Ludogorets Razgrad
Fenerbahce 1-2 (1-4 agg.) Vardar

Racist abuse delays England v. Bulgaria qualifier

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By Daniel KarellOct 14, 2019, 4:01 PM EDT
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England raced out to an impressive 4-0 lead at Bulgaria by halftime, but the wonderful attacking display was marred by horrendous incidents from the crowd.

The match in the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria was stopped on two occasions with announcements being made to ask sections of the crowd to stop their abusive language. This comes with the stadium already serving a partial stadium closure due to racist chanting from the crowd in previous qualifiers.

Below is UEFA’s protocol on how to intervene in these situations, and what transpired from lead writer Joe Prince-Wright.

Tottenham re-signs goalkeeper Vorm

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By Daniel KarellOct 14, 2019, 3:26 PM EDT
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With Hugo Lloris set to miss at least another two months of action with a broken elbow, Tottenham has turned to a familiar face to provide some cover between the pipes.

Tottenham announced Monday it had re-signed goalkeeper Michel Vorm to a contract through the end of the 2019-2020 Premier League season. Vorm spent five seasons with Tottenham after signing from Swansea City in 2014. However, after playing second-fiddle to Lloris and later serving as the third backup behind current Tottenham No. 2, Paulo Gazzaniga for the past couple of seasons, Vorm was released at the end of last season.

Its certainly a boost for Tottenham that a player with a long history at the club and plenty of experience was available to help in this situation. Similar to Liverpool picking up Adrian after Alisson Becker’s injury, Tottenham know what it’s getting in Vorm and may play him a few times if Gazzaniga needs a night off in the next few months.

According to Vorm, he had been home in his native Netherlands and was watching the game when he saw Lloris get injured.

“Obviously I saw straight away that he had a bad injury and at the time I thought about how bad it was, Vorm told Tottenham’s website. “After the game I spoke with Jan (Vertonghen), he told me what was going on and I spoke also with Toni (Jimenez, our goalkeeping coach) and, yes, during the week I got the phone call to ask if I was open to come back and help out. I’ve kept in contact with a lot of the players and also with Toni. We were speaking quite regularly and on Thursday he called me, we had the conversation and from there on, it went very quickly.”

In his five seasons with Tottenham, Vorm made a total of 47 appearances in all competitions. He saw plenty of time in the League Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Europa League and Champions League during his stay at White Hart Lane.

In-form striker Duvan Zapata injured on international duty

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By Kyle BonnOct 14, 2019, 2:15 PM EDT
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This international break has been particularly brutal to clubs who have seen a host of key players go down with injuries, and there’s still a few days of matches remaining.

The latest player to succumb to injury is Atalanta striker Duvan Zapata who returned from Colombia duty with an adductor strain and will miss at least three weeks, according to Sky Sports Italia (via FootballItalia). Zapata went down 23 minutes into Colombia’s 0-0 friendly draw with Chile on Friday and was sent back to Italy for tests at his club.

Those tests have reportedly confirmed the initial fears. The loss of Zapata is a massive one for Atalanta, as the 28-year-old has been steadily building for years and is having a breakout start to this campaign, scoring six Serie A goals in seven matches plus one more in Champions League play, currently on a run of four consecutive games with a goal across all competitions. With Zapata’s help, Atalanta sits third in the Serie A table, having bagged the most goals of any team with 18 through seven games.

Zapata becomes the latest high-profile injury from this international break, joining Colombia teammate Alexis Sanchez who went down late in the same match and is reportedly out until 2020 with a serious ankle injury. Chelsea has been hit the hardest, with Andreas Christensen, Mateo Kovacic, and Reese James all pulling up while N’Golo Kante was injured in France warmups but he is expected to be fit for the weekend. Luka Modric may miss time after going down in a Euro qualifier against Wales, while Gareth Bale also picked up a knock in that match. Neymar went down in Brazil’s match against against Nigeria, which forced manager Tite to explain his reasoning for the selection in a friendly. Sergio Aguero is apparently struggling to train with Argentina thanks to a mystery injury confirmed by Lionel Scaloni. Arsenal’s Dani Ceballos withdrew from Spain training earlier in the week with “hamstring overload.” Atlanta United defender Miles Robinson left USMNT camp with a hamstring problem with the MLS playoffs on the horizon.

Ex-England midfielder Gascoigne on trial for sexual assault

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Associated PressOct 14, 2019, 1:22 PM EDT
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LONDON (AP) — A prosecutor has alleged that former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne sexually assaulted a woman on a train by “forcibly and sloppily” planting an unwanted kiss on her lips.

Prosecutor William Mousley’s comments Monday came as Gascoigne, who has struggled with alcohol and mental-health problems, went on trial at Teesside Crown Court charged with sexual assault of the female passenger.

Mousley said the former England star “put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forcibly and sloppily on the lips.”

The 52-year-old Gascoigne denies the charge.

The alleged victim has told the court that she froze when the man, who appeared drunk, kissed her in August 2018. She says she did not realize it was Gascoigne until after the alleged incident.