And here’s our report on West Ham’s win in Germany. That’s all for tonight, farewell.
Here’s Ed Aarons’s report from Marseille, in case you’d like some post-match reading.
We’re just over 10 minutes from kick-off at Anfield. Join Scott Murray for Liverpool’s match against Union Saint-Gilloise.
Full-time results (early kick offs) in full
Full-time: Aris Limassol 2-1 Rangers
An awful result for the Scottish side in Cyprus. A real set back after their opening win over Real Betis. All teams in that group are on three points.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aris Limassol | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Sparta Prague | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Rangers | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Real Betis | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Full-time! Marseille 2-2 Brighton
Brighton earn their first ever European point! What a comeback from 2-0 down, and that is a huge result in their group.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AEK Athens | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Marseille | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Ajax | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Brighton | 2 | -1 | 1 |
Updated
Full-time! Freiburg 1-2 West Ham
Nervy ending as Freiburg keeper Atubolu gets his head on a corner. But West Ham hold on, and that is two wins from two! Three points from maybe the toughest game in the group!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Ham | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | Freiburg | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Olympiacos | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| 4 | Backa Topola | 2 | -2 | 1 |
Updated
90+3 min: Mad scenes in Serbia. Backa Topola were two down to Olympiakos but a red card and two led goals means it is now 2-2!
90 min: Seven minutes added on for Marseille 2-2 Brighton.
Four minutes added on for Freiburg 1-2 West Ham. Bowen through on goal from Paqueta’s wonderful pass, but the Englishman rushed his shot. Should probably have scored and secured the three points for the Hammers.
Six minutes added on for Aris Limassol 2-1 Rangers, as the Scottish side desperately try to find an equaliser.
Updated
GOAL! Marseille 2-2 Brighton (João Pedro 88 pen)
João Pedro makes no mistake! He scored two penalties against AEK Athens, remember, and has ice in his veins to send Pau López the wrong way. Brighton are level, they have been so good in this second half. Will they go for the winner?!
Updated
Penalty for Brighton! Clauss trips Lamptey!
87 min: So clumsy for the Frenchman. The referee points to the spot. Marseille’s players are in danger of losing their heads, but it’s a clear penalty!
83 min: Couple of other scores to update you on.
AEK Athens have equalised against Ajax, it’s 1-1 there. That’s in Marseille/Brighton’s group remember.
Real Betis 2-1 Sparta Prague, Isco has got the second goal there in the 79th minute for the Spanish side.
79 min: Chance for Kudus to put the game to bed for West Ham … just wide! Let off for Freiburg, who allowed the Ghanaian too much room but just dragged his shot a couple of yards wide of the far post. Kudus has already scored five goals (!) in the Europa League so far (hat-trick for Ajax in qualifying, and two goals in West Ham’s opening group stage win). I’m actually surprised he isn’t cup tied, but qualifying apparently doesn’t count towards that.
GOAL! Sporting 1-2 Atalanta (Gyökeres 76 pen)
One for the Cov fans, as the Swedish striker sends Musso the wrong way from 12 yards and clips a perfect penalty off the inside of the post and in. Sporting were woeful in the first half but now have 14 minutes + to find an equaliser.
GOAL(S): Aris Limassol 2-1 Rangers
Two goals to update you on. Aris Limassol had taken a 2-0 lead in Cyprus, but Sima halves the deficit on the 70th minute, latching onto a nice cross from John Lundstram. Game on!
72 min: Chance for Mitoma! Brighton hit Marseille on the break, as Mitoma streams forward on the left. He’s only got Mbemba to beat, but rather cut inside the African defender, the Japanese shoots on his left from an acute angle, and Pau López palms the ball away.
69 min: An embarrassing dive by Paqueta, who tries to con the referee into booking or even sending off Sildillia. Remember, if West Ham draw or win tonight, they will hold the record for most amount of European games unbeaten, 17, beating Don Revie’s Leeds record.
GOAL! Freiburg 1-2 West Ham (Aguerd 66)
West Ham take the lead. A simple goal from the corner, Ward-Prowse assist of course, as Aguerd rises highest and heads into an empty net. Atubolu, a Germany Under 21 international, is having a stinker in net for Freiburg.
Updated
62 min: Back roar Marseille! This is a fine game on the French Riviera. Ndiaye finds himself with only Dunk to beat, he twists and turns, but the Brighton captain just gets back to make a crucial last-minute block! The shot was 100% going in, if not for the intervention of the England international.
58 min: It’s all Brighton now, and Marseille are lucky to escape as a Van Hecke header hits Welbeck (I think?) and prevents a certain goal for the visitors!
56 min: WHAT A MISS! Ooooooooh, Freiburg should be ahead! Sildillia reaches a deep cross, loops a header across goal. The ball smacks the bottom of the post, comes out straight to Höler, and the big striker smacks the ball over from five yards. It was easier to score! Head in hands stuff.
55 min: Shout out for Lamptey, who had a good couple of minutes there. An absolutely thumping slide tackle to halt Harit and a dangerous Marseille counter-attack, and then a key role to set up Brighton’s goal. Estupiñán’s recent injury is a bad blow for Brighton, but Lamptey is a great option as an inverted full back.
GOAL! Marseille 2-1 Brighton (Gross 54)
Brighton are back in it! Gross has missed the last three games through injury, he’s such an important player for De Zerbi, and pops up with a goal here, a wonderful team effort. Lamptey sneaks to the byline, feeds Mitoma who crosses low to the near post. Welbeck is so clever to dummy the ball to fool Balerdi, and Gross is unmarked to pass the ball into the corner. Great goal!
Updated
GOAL! Freiburg 1-1 West Ham (Sallai 49)
Fabianski makes a wonderful double save to deny the hosts but Sallai is there at the third attempt to level the scores! West Ham have been in total control here but are pegged back!
Updated
50 min: Veretout is down with a hamstring injury for Marseille. The goalscorer is going to have to go off, with one of the star of the World Cup, Azzedine Ounahi, coming on.
47 min: Marseille are again on the offensive, and have a penalty shout after Harit goes down in the area. Mitoma was the Brighton player under question for his tackle, but it’s clear. No penalty.
Peeeeeeep! We’re underway again in our eight early Europa League matches.
Half-time reading:
Half-time scores (early kick-offs)
GOAL! Sporting 0-2 Atalanta (Ruggeri 43)
Matteo Ruggeri doubles the Italian’s advantage! The left-wing back slices through the defence, latching onto a nice through ball. His initial shot is saved but Ruggeri is first to the rebound and taps the ball into an empty net! Sporting are absolutely nowhere in this one.
41 min: Chance for Brighton, their first real opening of the evening! A lovely lofted ball over the top by Gross (I think) is not quite into Fati’s stride and the Barcelona loanee is forced to take his header early, attempting to loop his effort over Pau López. But the Spanish keeper responds brilliantly, springing to his left and tipping the ball behind.
37 min: “Gotta agree that Europa League is always a better watch,” emails Brian Cruickshank. “Always glad to see good motivated teams that otherwise wouldn’t been seen internationally.
“As for a Ringo. I went to see a Beatles cover band in Quebec once. I remember thinking this drummer is fabulous. Not realising, in the moment, he was note for note covering Ringo. A weird eye opener.”
GOAL! Sporting 0-1 Atalanta (Scalvini 33)
Interesting that Atalanta are dominating Sporting at home, the Portuguese have had just one shot to the Italian’s eight, and just 38% possession. Scalvini scores a goal very similar to the Marseille strikes, sweeping his finish into the net after a cut back down the right. FAO West Ham fans, Scamacca is on the bench for Atalanta tonight.
Updated
33 min: Brighton are making a mess of this, they are in serious danger of making a very poor start to their European adventure. Marseille continue to pour forward, and Harit is afforded an ocean of space on the edge of Brighton’s box. The Moroccan thumps one from 20 yards, and Steele does well to turn the shot over. It was straight at the Englishman, but was still a decent save.
Updated
30 min: Some other goals to update you on.
In Marseille/Brighton’s group:
AEK Athens 0-1 Ajax
In Aris Limassol/Rangers’ group:
Real Betis 1-1 Sparta Prague
Updated
27 min: “Aris Limasol get best away days in Europa,” emails Martin Utley. “Glasgow, Seville, Prague - that is some trio of cities no?”
For RANGE, that is hard to beat.
Penalty given to Brighton via VAR! Penalty rescinded!
24 min: What on earth is going on? The referee is called over to the screen to look at at incident where Balerdi appeared to handle inside thee Marseille area. The referee gives the penalty after consulting the screen. But then, after a few moments, play restarts! The TNT commentary team are talking about the VAR finding a foul before the handball, apparently Jan Paul van Hecke was penalised for climbing over his marker.
This is just so baffling. VAR is a mess at the moment (get rid, please).
22 min: A nasty knock for West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos, who got a real blow to the head from his teammate Álvarez. Mavropanos is down, and has a bloody mouth, but is going to continue. I hope they have done all the concussion checks properly. That was … ouch.
GOAL! Marseille 2-0 Brighton (Veretout 20)
Marseille double their lead, and just one minute and 28 seconds between the two goals! It’s almost a carbon-copy of the first, with a mistake from Lewis Dunk (on his European debut) allowing Harit to break free. The Moroccan sped down the right, cut the ball back, and this time it’s Veretout who is there around the penalty spot to apply a first-time finish! Steele could have done a bit better in goal there.
Updated
GOAL! Marseille 1-0 Brighton (Mbemba 18)
Brighton are behind! Clauss, surely one of the best right backs in Europe, plays a neat one-two, gets to the byline and plays a low cross into the area. Mbemba, the former Newcastle defender, finds some space and sweeps home from 12 yards. The Stade Vélodrome erupts. It is SO loud in there.
Updated
16 min: Another Beatles email, from Mark Crowder. “Ringo gets stick (oof) because he’s always mentioned next to John and Paul, which is perhaps, maybe(?) like saying Nunez is a “flop” because he’s not Haaland.”
14 min: West Ham are all over Freiburg! The visitors have hit the post, with Atubolu again looking nervy in goal, and Paqueta has just had another effort effort ruled out (correctly) for offside! It remains Freiburg 0-1 West Ham.
GOAL! Aris Limassol 1-0 Rangers (Moucketou-Moussounda 9)
Rangers are behind due to a header from Alex Moucketou-Moussounda! The Cypriot club climb above the Scottish giants in the group standings with that goal. Not looking great for the team led (on an interim basis) by Steven Davis.
Updated
GOAL! Freiburg 0-1 West Ham (Paqueta 8)
The Hammers are at it again! What a header from Paqueta to give them the lead in Germany! Bowen gets free down the right, swings in a pinpoint cross to the penalty spot, and Paqueta rises highest, planting a brilliant header to Atubolu’s right. Brilliant!
Updated
6 min: An email from Tom Aldous.
“Responding to your question about better European tournament groups for away days, the Champions League this season has:
- San Sebastian, Milan, Lisbon and Salzburg
- Madrid, Naples, Braga, Berlin
Both I’d say measure up well to Brighton, Marseille, Amsterdam and Athens”.
2 min: Marseille manager Gattuso is already hopping around on the touchline. He has failed to convince anyone about being as elite a manager as he was a player. OM have not won since August and lost 4-0 in Le Classique last month.
This is worth a read, written shortly before Gattuso was appointed.
Peeeeeeeeeep! We’re underway in the early kick-offs. Hope Ed and Stephanie make it to the Vélodrome OK!
Fan issues before Marseille v Brighton
Our man on the ground, Ed Aarons, is reporting issues in Marseille.
Lots of Brighton fans struggling to get to the Stade Velodrome tonight due to massive traffic issues in Marseille. Even special buses chartered by chairman Tony Bloom from airport due to a flight delay could potentially miss kick off https://t.co/hS9oyefHAp
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) October 5, 2023
Another person of this parish (and die-hard Brighton fan), Stephanie Fincham, is also in the south of France. She has messaged me to say:
I’m at Marseille on police escorted fan coach to ground (no other way of getting here apparently). Still 30mins away. Chaos. Not enough buses. So upsetting.
We went to fanzine as instructed in a million emails but just not enough buses
Updated
I knew I would get pelters about this. And Mark Hooper is the first to set me straight on email.
“I agree about the Championship, but the analogy doesn’t stack up because Ringo was phenomenal, every half-arsed indie band of the 90s tried and failed to ape his lazy, behind-the-beat, leftie-on-a-right-hand-kit style - and if you listen to the outro of Strawberry Fields, he also invented drum n bass.”
Not sure I agree with the drum ‘n’ bass analogy, but Ringo certainly doesn’t deserve the slander, which Ben Cardew explains nicely here.
While we’re on the subject of Marseille v Brighton, here a couple of preview pieces from Ed Aarons, the lucky so and so.
Ndiaye was at Boreham Wood in 2019. Now he’s a £20m player, back at one of his youth teams in the Europa League. Madness.
Here’s a challenge, can anyone point me in the direction of a better set of group stage away days than Brighton’s Europa League fixtures: Marseille, Ajax, Athens.
Marseille, what a city.
Marseille (a).
— Danny Last (@DannyLast) October 5, 2023
My kind of city: pic.twitter.com/pWOf1WSxbO
Updated
Team news (selected games)
Marseille v Brighton
Marseille: Pau Lopez, Clauss, Mbemba, Balerdi, Murillo, Rongier, Veretout, Ndiaye, Harit, Correa, Aubameyang.
Subs: Ngapandouetnbu, Ounahi, Vitor Oliveira, Renan Lodi, Meite, Sarr, Nadir, Blanco, Soglo, Tunkadi, Caprice.
Brighton: Steele, Lamptey, van Hecke, Dunk, Veltman, Dahoud, Gross, March, Mitoma, Fati, Welbeck.
Subs: Verbruggen, Igor, Webster, Joao Pedro, Gilmour, Baleba, Adingra, Ferguson, McGill, Buonanotte, Hinshelwood.
Aris Limassol v Rangers
Aris Limassol: Vana, Boakye, Yago, Mouketou-Moussounda, Urosevic, Szoke, Struski, Mayambela, Gomis, Bengtsson, Babicka.
Subs: Brown, Kokorin, Spoljaric, Stepinski, Dimitriou, Brorsson, Montnor, Chrysostomou, Ellinas Sofroniou.
Rangers: Butland, Goldson, Tavernier, Davies, Barisic, Lammers, Raskin, Lundstram, Scott Wright, Sima, Dessers.
Subs: Souttar, Cifuentes, Sterling, Roofe, McCrorie, Kieran Wright, King, Devine, Lyall, McKinnon, McCausland, Fraser.
Freiburg v West Ham
Freiburg: Atubolu, Sildialli, Ginter, Lienhart, Sallai, Eggestein, Hofler, Kubler, Adamu, Holer, Grifo.
Subs: Schmidt, Gulde, Weisshaupt, Muller, Philipp, Uphoff, Makengo, Rohl,
Rudlin, Doan, Breunig.
West Ham: Fabianski, Mavropanos, Alvarez, Kehrer, Coufal, Ward-Prowse, Lucas Paqueta, Fornals, Aguerd, Bowen, Kudus.
Subs: Zouma, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Benrahma, Areola, Soucek, Coventry, Emerson Palmieri, Mubama, Anang.
Sporting v Atalanta
Sporting: Adan, Diomande, Inacio, Matheus Reis, Fresneda, Hjulmand, Morita, Nuno Santos, Goncalves, Gyokeres, Paulinho.
Subs: Coates, Edwards, Israel, Neto, Essugo, Catamo, Braganca, Ricardo Esgaio, Quaresma, Duarte Ribeiro, Pinto, Ferreira.
Atalanta: Musso, Scalvini, Djimsiti, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson Silva, Ruggeri, Koopmeiners, De Ketelaere, Lookman.
Subs: Toloi, Holm, Palomino, Pasalic, Muriel, Bakker, Adopo, Carnesecchi, Rossi, Hateboer, Miranchuk, Scamacca.
Preamble
There was once a story of how John Lennon was asked if Ringo Starr was “the best drummer in the world”.
Lennon’s answer, the story went, was: “Ringo wasn’t the best drummer in the world. Let’s face it, he wasn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles”.
That story (now debunked as a joke from a BBC comedy show) was not actually true but does come to mind whenever somebody bangs on about the Premier League being the Best League in the World™ when in fact it’s not even the best league in England. That title, unofficially of course, belongs to the Championship – a division where anything can happen and quite often does.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying that the Europa League is, IMHO, a more interesting competition that the Champions League. We got there in the end.
Just look at the opening round of this year’s Europa League. AEK Athens beating modern football’s team du jour, Brighton, 3-2 at home? Yes, please. Give me a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace in Marseille’s 3-3 draw at Ajax over the latest Manchester City group-stage win any day. Freiburg’s sealing a thrilling late win to beat Olympiakos 3-2? ‘Ambassador, with these [results’] you are really spoiling us’.
Anyway, here are tonight’s offerings. It’s quite the line-up. I will be taking you through the 5.45pm BST kick-offs. Join me.
