Veteran Olivier Giroud's late goal lifts Lille past Brann in Europa League
Veteran Olivier Giroud's late goal lifts Lille past Brann in Europa League
Veteran striker Olivier Giroud came off the bench to score a late goal and give Lille a 2-1 win over Brann in the Europa League on Thursday.
The 38-year-old former Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan and Los Angeles FC striker surged into the area to meet a cross form Tiago Santos and head home the winner 10 minutes from time.
Hamza Igamane broke the deadlock nine minutes into the second half from close range to give Lille a 1-0 lead. The Norwegian visitors replied six minutes later on a fast counter through Saevar Atli Magnússon.
In another early game, Romanian club FCSB won 1-0 away at Go Ahead Eagles, in the Dutch team's debut in the competition. The hosts qualified by winning the Dutch Cup.
More games were taking place later Thursday.
Aston Villa faces Bologna to kick off its Europa League campaign, hoping to put behind a miserable start to the season.
The English side has a coach no other team can match to do so: Unai Emery is the most successful manager in the competition with four Europa League trophies, three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal.
Emery led Villa to placings of fourth and sixth in the last two Premier League seasons and to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. But this season Villa is winless in the Premier League, scoring a single goal in five games and already eliminated from the English League Cup.
The game against the Serie A team is a rematch of their encounter last season at Villa Park in the Champions League, where Villa won 2-0.
Another team struggling in its domestic league, winless Rangers, opens against Belgium’s Genk at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow.
Among other games, Salzburg hosts two-time champion Porto, Celta Vigo travels to Stuttgart, Lyon is at Utrecht and Panathinaikos is at Young Boys.
The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.
The opening round is split over two days. On Wednesday, Antony's late equalizer rescued a 2-2 draw for Real Betis against Nottingham Forest.
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