2009 Europa League Q3 Round-Up: A Night Of Big Scores

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Ola Toivonen, PSV - Cherno More Varna (Foto ANP)

As some big names from around Europe entered the competition there was a distinct possibility of an upset, but although there were one or two surprises, the major sides all avoided defeat.

AS Roma overcame Belgian side AA Gent thanks to a 3-1 win, and should progress through with relative ease next week after the second leg in Flanders. Senegalese striker Mbaye snatched a surprise led for the side known as the Buffalos, but the Giallorossi hit back in the second half thanks to goals from Mexes, a penalty from Totti and a strike from Manchester United transfer target Mirko Vucinic. 

Hamburg had few problems with their Danish opponents Randers beating the side currently bottom of the Danish Superleague 4-0 with a brace either side of the interval to get new coach Bruno Labaddia his first win. Goals before the break from Guerrero and Boateng put the Germans into a commanding position, and strikes in the second half from Petric and a penalty from Trochowski put HSV into the driving seat ahead of the return leg at the AOL-Arena next week.

Lithuanian side FK Vetra couldn’t live up to their pre-match talk against Roy Hodgson’s Fulham succumbing to a 3-0 defeat against the side from Craven Cottage. A goal just before the half-time break from Bobby Zamora broke Lithuanian resistance, and two more followed thanks to efforts from Danny Murphy from the spot and a late third from Seol Ki Hyeon to wrap up the win.

Former winners of the UEFA Cup, PSV had it less easy at the Philips Stadion, but eventually wore down Cherno More’s resistance in second half stoppage time with a goal from Dutch international defender Dirk Marcellis. 

French side Lille look to have ended the European dream of Serbian first division side Sevojno running out 2-0 winners. Quick-fire goals from Robert Vittek and Belgian starlet Hazard just before the break sealed the victory, although the result was marred by the late dismissal of Plestan for two yellow cards.

There were one or two surprise results around the competition. FC Basel still have plenty of work to do after managing only a 2-2 draw against KR in Iceland. Goals before the ten minute mark got the home side off to a flying start, but Basel clawed their way back into contention thanks to goals from Australian Scott Chipperfield and Argentine forward Federico Almerares.

Athletic Bilbao have left themselves with plenty to do in the away leg against Swiss side Young Boys. The early league leaders in Switzerland have Ivorian international Doumbia to thank for the result after he struck midway through the first half at the San Mames.

Georgian side Dinamo Tbilisi beat Crevena Zvezda 2-0, and Club Brugge were made to work hard for a 3-2 win against Finnish side FC Lahti. Arguably, though, the biggest shock of the evening occurred in Ireland where St Patricks recorded a fine 1-0 win over Russian team Krylya Sovetov. The Russian side have been embroiled in a recent match fixing scandal in their homeland, and their troubles continued by slipping to a surprise loss in Dublin. 

It was a decent night for Irish football as the decision to switch to playing in the summer by the League of Ireland continues to be vindicated.  Derry City went down only to a 1-0 loss in Bulgaria to CSKA Sofia, giving themselves every chance of turning round the deficit back at the Brandywell.

There were also a couple of big scores with Polish side Lech Poznan hammering Norwegian side Fredikstad 6-1 in the away leg. Turkish rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray both had good nights as well.  Fenerbahce managed a 5-1 win against Honved in Istanbul, whilst Galatasaray couldn’t quite match them recording a 4-1 victory in Kazakhstan at the expense of FK Tobol. One-time winners of the Cup-Winners Cup Aberdeen had a bad night at Pittodrie losing 5-1 to Sigma Olomouc from the Czech Republic.

Full Results:

Aberdeen 1-5 SK Sigma Olomouc
Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Young Boys
Braga v Elfsborg
Brondby 1-1 Legia Warsaw
CSKA Sofia 1-0 Derry City
Club Brugge 3-2 FC Lahti
Dinamo Tbilisi 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
FC Honka 0-1 FK Qarabag
FC Vaduz 0-1 Liberec
FC Vaslui 2-0 Omonia Nicosia
FK Vetra 0-3 Fulham
Fenerbahce 5-1 Budapest Honved
Fredrikstad 1-6 Lech Poznan
Helsingborgs 2-1 FK Sarajevo
IFK Gothenburg 1-3 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
KR Reykjavik 2-2 Basle
KSP Polonia Warsaw 0-1 NAC
MSK Zilina v Hajduk Split
Maccabi Netanya 1-1 Galatasaray
Metallurg Donetsk 2-0 Olimpija Ljubljana
PSV 1-0 Cherno More Varna
Petrovac 1-2 SK Sturm Graz
Randers FC 0-4 Hamburg
Rapid Vienna 2-1 APOP
Rijeka 1-2 FC Metalist Kharkiv
Roma 3-1 AA Gent
Sevojno 0-2 Lille
Sporting Braga 1-2 Elfsborg
Slavija Sarajevo 0-2 MFK Kosice
St Patricks 1-0 Krylya Sovetov Samara
Steaua Bucuresti 3-0 Motherwell
Tromso 2-1 NK Slaven Koprivnica
Valerenga 1-2 PAOK Salonika

Walter Townsend, Goal.com

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