European round-up: Tottenham beaten by minnows NS Mura
A round-up of Thursday's European action, as Antonio Conte's Tottenham were embarassingly beaten 2-1 by Slovenian minnows NS Mura.
NS Mura 2-1 Tottenham
Tottenham endured one of the most embarrassing nights in their history as they were beaten 2-1 by the lowest-ranked team in the Europa Conference League, going down 2-1 to NS Mura in Maribor.
New boss Antonio Conte will have watched on with horror as his side lost at the death to a team with a UEFA coefficient ranking of 341.
Even though they were reduced to 10 men just after the half-hour when Ryan Sessegnon was sent off, Spurs should still have had enough to see off opposition who had lost their previous four games in the competition and are mid-table in the Slovenian league.
Instead they lost to Amadej Marosa’s stoppage-time goal after Harry Kane had earlier cancelled out Tomi Horvat’s shock opener.
The defeat means Spurs will likely have to beat Rennes in their final game to be assured of qualification for the knockout stages and they can no longer qualify as group winners, meaning they will have to play an extra round.
Leicester 3-1 Legia Warsaw
Leicester took control of their Europa League fate with a deserved 3-1 win over Legia Warsaw.
Patson Daka, James Maddison and Wilfred Ndidi sent the Foxes top of Group C ahead of next month’s final game against Napoli.
Victory in Naples would book Brendan Rodgers’ side an automatic spot in the last 16.
Filip Mladenovic gave the Foxes a scare when he followed up after Kasper Schmeichel saved Mahir Emreli’s penalty but it was, ultimately, a comfortable night.
Rapid Vienna 0-2 West Ham
West Ham waltzed into the last 16 of the Europa League with a game to spare after a 2-0 victory at Rapid Vienna (xG: RPV 0.58 - 4.09 WHU).
First-half goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Mark Noble wrapped up top spot in Group H for David Moyes’ side.
It was an important victory for the Hammers as they are now straight through to the knockout stage having avoided a play-off in February against a team dropping down from the Champions League.
Moyes was even able to make eight changes to his side, resting the likes of Declan Rice and Michail Antonio, and still comfortably get the job done.
With Vienna in a new coronavirus lockdown the match was played in an empty stadium, with Rapid unable to call on their boisterous fans to lift them, and West Ham simply had too much class.
Rangers 2-0 Sparta Prague
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst led Rangers into the Europa League knockout stages in his first game in charge.
An Alfredo Morelos double earned Rangers a 2-0 victory over Sparta Prague in front of 48,370 fans at Ibrox.
The victory ensured Rangers went out of sight of Brondby ahead of their final game against Group A winners Lyon and their 2-1 aggregate score over Sparta means the Czech side cannot overturn a three-point deficit.
Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 Celtic
Celtic’s hopes of progressing in the Europa League were dashed in agonising fashion as a late fightback from Bayer Leverkusen denied them a famous victory in Germany.
Ange Postecoglou’s spirited side knew they would probably require a win to keep their last-32 dream alive and they were on course for this outcome until the closing stages after a Josip Juranovic penalty and a strike from Jota cancelled out Robert Andrich’s early goal for the hosts.
However, Leverkusen hit back twice in the closing eight minutes to win 3-2 and top the group.
The result means Celtic will drop into the Conference League after Christmas, with Real Betis going through in the Europa League as runners-up.
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