MX23RW : Friday, April 19 14:53:34| >> :120:4301:4301:

Europa League roundup: Tottenham Hotspur, Celtic held away

Spurs and Celtic fail to kick off their Europa League campaigns with victories following away draws with Partizan and Red Bull Salzburg respectively.

Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic were both held to draws in their Europa League openers as the British duo failed to win away to Partizan and Red Bull Salzburg respectively.

Spurs and Partizan played out a drab goalless draw in a game where both sides struggled to fashion enough clear-cut opportunities to get their Group C campaign off to a winning start.

Celtic's trip to Austria proved a little more eventful, however, as Ronny Deila's troops twice surrendered the lead in an entertaining 2-2 draw.

Alan cancelled out Wakaso Mubarak's opener for the Bhoys, before lightning struck again for the visitors after Scott Brown's strike on the hour mark was negated by Jonathan Soriano 18 minutes later.

Their Group D rivals Dinamo Zagreb stormed to the top of the pool with a convincing 5-1 victory over Romanian outfit Astra Giurgiu.

El Aribi Hillel Soudani hit a first-half hat-trick before Angelo Henriquez and Ante Coric added further goals in a quieter second half.

Inter Milan also got their Europa League campaign off to a winning start after Danilo D'Ambrosio gave them a 1-0 win away to 10-man Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine.

The Italian struck on 71 minutes, shortly after Ruslan Rotan received a red card as Walter Mazzarri's capitalised on their advantage.

There was no such luck for FC Zurich, however, who lost 3-2 to 10-man Apollon Limassol in Cyprus.

Limassol eased into a two-goal half-time lead courtesy of strikes from Fotis Papoulis and Marcos Gullon respectively.

However, that advantage was swiftly cancelled out in a rousing three-minute spell from Zurich in the second half, with Avi Rikan and Gilles Yipi Yapo levelling up the clash.

The Swiss club were given added impetus in their bid for a winner when Gullon was sent off for a second yellow.

It had the opposite effect, though, as a Philippe Koch own goal three minutes from the end gave Limassol the win before Yassine Chikhaoui also saw red for the visitors.

The Cypriots take an outright lead in Group A after Villarreal held Borussia Monchengladbach to a 1-1 draw in Germany.

Patrick Herrmann's 21st-minute opener was later cancelled out by Ikechukwu Uche midway through the first half.

Results in full: Apollon Limassol 3-2 FC Zurich, Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Villarreal, Club Brugge 0-0 Torino, Copenhagen 2-0 Hjk, Besiktas 1-1 Asteras Tripolis, Partizan 0-0 Spurs, Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 Astra Giurgiu, Salzburg 2-2 Celtic, PSV 1-0 Estoril, Panathinaikos 1-2 Dinamo Moscow, FK Karabakh 0-0 St Etienne, Dnipro 0-1 Inter Milan

ID:177572: cacheID:177572:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:6491:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Jonatan Soriano of FC Salzburg celebrates after the first goal during the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 match between FC Salzburg and FC Basel 1893 at Stadion Salzburg on March 20, 2014
Read Next:
Celtic held by Salzburg
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City32227376324473
2Arsenal32225575264971
3Liverpool32218372314171
4Aston Villa33196868491963
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Newcastle UnitedNewcastle321551269521750
7Manchester UnitedMan Utd32155124748-150
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham33139115258-648
9Chelsea31138106152947
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton321111105250244
11Wolverhampton WanderersWolves32127134651-543
12Fulham33126154951-242
13Bournemouth32119124757-1042
14Crystal Palace3289153754-1733
15Brentford3388174758-1132
16Everton3298153248-1627
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3379174258-1626
18Luton TownLuton3367204670-2425
19Burnley3348213368-3520
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3237223084-5416


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!