Sparta Prague defeat leaves Inter Milan in danger of early Europa League exit

29 September 2016 10:53

Three-time champions Inter Milan face a battle to get through Europa League Group K after a second successive defeat.

A 3-1 setback against Sparta Prague followed up a 2-0 loss to Hapoel Be'er Sheva to leave Inter pointless and bottom of the group, four points behind Hapoel and Southampton, who drew 0-0 in Israel.

Vaclac Kadlec's first-half brace set Sparta on their way and though Inter captain Rodrigo Palacio pulled one back, they had defender Andrea Ranocchia sent off and Mario Holek quickly put the game to bed.

Krasnodar and Schalke took a stranglehold on Group I after each recording their second straight win.

The Russian side won 5-2 against Nice as Joaozinho's double added to Fedor Smolov's opener. Nice twice pulled within one, through first Mario Balotelli and then Wylan Cyprien, but substitute Ari's late double secured victory.

Schalke beat Salzburg 3-1 with goals from Leon Goretzka and Naldo either side of Duje Caleta-Car's own goal. Jonatan Soriano pulled one back for the Austrians.

Fiorentina were also comfortable winners, beating 10-man Qarabag 5-1 to top Group J. Khouma Babacar and Mauro Zarate scored twice each, with Nikola Kalinic also on target. Dino Ndlovu scored in injury time for Qarabag, who had Elvin Yunuszada sent off after half an hour.

PAOK Salonika beat Slovan Liberec 2-1 in the same group, Stefanos Athanasiadis scoring twice to overcome Nikolay Komlichenko's first-minute opener.

Kasper Dolberg's goal was enough to keep Ajax top of Group G with a 1-0 win over Standard Liege, who hit a post late on through Isaac Mbenza. Celta Vigo are two points back after late goals from John Guidetti and Daniel Wass saw them beat Panathinaikos 2-0.

Shakhtar Donetsk beat Braga 2-0 with goals from Taras Stepanenko and Viktor Kovalenko to stay clear in Group H, despite Fred's red card early in the second half. Gent beat Konyaspor by the same score thanks to Kenneth Saief and Renato Neto.

FC Zurich beat Osmanlispor 2-1 with goals from Marco Schonbachler and Dzengis Cavusevic - who also missed a penalty - as Group L closed up.

Adam Maher scored for the previous group leaders, who were overhauled by Villarreal after the Yellow Submarine's 1-1 draw with Steaua Bucharest - Rafael Borre and Sulley Muniru with the goals.

Mainz beat Gabala 3-2 in Group C's early game, leading through Yoshinori Muto but falling behind to goals from Ruslan Gurbanov and Sergei Zenjov before Jhon Cordoba and Levin Oztunali swung the game decisively back their way.

Nolan Roux's injury-time goal then earned St Etienne a 1-1 draw after Youri Tielemans' penalty gave Anderlecht the lead.

Irish underdogs Dundalk continued their fairytale European experience with a 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv thanks to Ciaran Kilduff's goal.

On four points, they trail only Zenit St Petersburg and move ahead of AZ Alkmaar after Zenit won 5-0 in the meeting of those two sides. Aleksandr Kokorin scored twice with the impressive Giuliano, Domenico Criscito and Oleg Shatov also on target.

All four teams in Group F are level on three points after Athletic Bilbao beat Rapid Vienna 1-0 with a goal from Benat Etxebarria and Genk won 3-1 against Sassuolo.

Nikos Karelis, Leon Bailey and Thomas Buffel scored Genk's goals, with Matteo Politano responding.

Manchester United and Fenerbahce enjoyed 1-0 wins in Group A, Fener moving top with victory over Feyenoord thanks to Emmanuel Emenike's goal while Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed United past Zorya Luhansk.

Roma joined Austria Vienna at the top of Group E after a 4-0 win over Astra Giurgiu with goals from Kevin Strootman, Federico Fazio and Mohamed Salah and a Fabricio own goal. The Austrian side drew 0-0 with Viktoria Plzen.

APOEL top Group B after beating Olympiacos 1-0 with a goal from Pieros Sotiriou, though they needed Boy Waterman to brilliantly save from Tarik Elyounoussi late on. Astana and Young Boys drew 0-0.

Source: PA