Roma, Ajax and Frankfurt victorious in Europa League. Chelsea wins in 3rd tier

Roma needed a penalty to beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 for its first Europa League victory under new coach Ivan Jurić on Thursday.

Summer signing Artem Dovbyk converted from the spot in the 23rd minute to get the Italian team in the win column after a draw and a loss in the second-tier competition.

Ajax beat Qarabag 3-0 in Baku after the home team was reduced to 10 men in the 15th minute when midfielder Júlio Romão received a straight red card.

Kenneth Taylor scored some 20 minutes later. In the second half, Wout Weghorst converted a penalty and substitute Chuba Akpom put the result beyond doubt in the 77th. Two minutes later, Qarabag went down to nine men when Elvin Jafarguliyev also saw a red card.

Eintracht Frankfurt, the 2022 Europa League winner, got a late goal from substitute Hugo Larsson to edge Latvia’s RFS 1-0.

PAOK came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw with Czech side Viktoria Plzen in Thessaloniki.

Real Sociedad earned its first win, 2-1 away to Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a game played in Belgrade, Serbia due to the regional conflict.

Manchester United will be in action later Thursday at Fenerbahce, while Tottenham hosts Alkmaar.

Conference League

Chelsea routed Panathinaikos 4-1 in Athens to make it two wins from two in the third-tier Conference League.

João Félix scored twice — his first one set up by Mykhailo Mudryk in the 22nd minute. The visitors added three more in the first 14 minutes of the second half through Mudryk, Felix’s second and Christopher Nkunku’s penalty. Facundo Pellistri netted for Panathinaikos in the 69th.

Jonathan Ikoné’s two goals led Fiorentina passt St. Gallen 4-2 in Switzerland.

Iceland’s Vikingur beat Belgium’s Cercle Brugge 3-1 to record its first victory in Europe.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Source