The Europa Group stages have ended with the favourites Manchester United going through to the knockout stages after a win in Odessa; Southampton exit after failing to win at home and much more.
Jose Mourinho called Manchester United’s victory over Zorya ‘solid’ and ‘professional’ as his side progressed to the knockout stages after a hit and miss group campaign.
United travelled to Odessa knowing a point would have been enough to qualify, but also wary that they had failed to win away from home in Europe in over a year with five straight defeats.
Mourinho wanted the game called off when he saw the state of the pitch, but the bobbles didn’t prevent Henrik Mkhitaryan from dancing through the defence with the grace of John Travolta to score his first goal for the Red Devils. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the second with time running out, his sixth goal in seven games.
United finished second in the group behind Fenerbahce who finished their campaign with a 1-0 win away at Feyenoord.
Bodog makes United the +500 favourite to win the Europa Cup outright; Fenerbahce is a +2500 outsider.
Southampton Lose at Home to go Out
Southampton should be kicking themselves in the ass with an NBA players boot after somehow managing to fail to reach the last 32 after a group stage full of near misses.
The Saints knew that a goalless draw at home to Hapoel Be’er Sheva would have been enough to put them through to the next phase of the competition. Hapoel had other ideas after Maor Bar Buzaglo put the visitors ahead with a smart cross-shot from the edge of the box. It was the Israeli side’s first shot on target.
Claude Puel’s side pushed forward in search of two goals and found one courtesy of their captain Virgil van Dijk who side-footed the ball home in the 91st minute. Maya Yoshida should have won the game but headed wide when it was easier to score with the last touch of the match.
Hapoel goes through to the knockout stages courtesy of a better head-to-head record than Southampton. Sparta Prague was already through as group leaders.
Roma And Shakhtar Donetsk go Through Unbeaten
Bodog has installed Roma as the second favourites to lift the title after they qualified as group winners. Their final game of the group phase was a drab goalless draw against Astra Giurgiu, who also went through after Viktoria Plzen came back from 2-0 to win 3-2 against Austria Vienna.
And Shakhtar Donetsk became only the eighth side to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League after winning all six group games with a 4-2 win away at Braga. Gent also qualifies from that group with a 1-0 win away to Konyaspor.
The Best of the Rest
Zenit St Petersburg lost their first game of the group stages 3-2 to AZ Alkmaar, and that was enough to make Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s 2-1 victory over Dundalk redundant as the Dutch side went through as runners-up.
The French side Saint-Etienne qualified without losing a game after coming from two goals down to beat Anderlecht; Athletic Bilbao went through after a 1-1 draw in Austria against Rapid Vienna, and Villareal beat Steaua Bucharest to finish runners-up to Osmanlispor who beat FC Zurich to snatch the top spot.
Here are the results in full with the teams in black qualifying for the knockout stages:
Feyenoord 0 v 1 Fenerbahce
Zorya 0 v 2 Man Utd
Qarabag 1 v 2 Fiorentina
PAOK 2 v 0 Slovan Liberec
Inter Milan 2 v 1 Sparta Prague
Southampton 1 v 1 Hapoel Be-er Sheva
Osmanlispor 2 v 0 FC Zurich
Villareal 2 v 1 Steaua Bucharest
Apoel Nicosia 2 v 0 Olympiakos
Young Boys 3 v 0 Astana
Mainz 2 v 0 Qabala
Anderlecht 2 v 3 Saint Etienne
AZ Alkmaar 3 v 2 Zenit
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2 v 1 Dundalk
Astra Giurgiu 0 v 0 Roma
Viktoria Plzen 3 v 2 Austria Vienna
Rapid Vienna 1 v 1 Athletic Bilbao
Sassuolo v KRC Genk (Called Off)
Panathinaikos 0 v 2 Celta Vigo
Standard Liege 1 v Ajax
Konyaspor 0 v 1 Gent
Sporting Braga 2 v 4 Shakhtar Donetsk
Salzburg 2 v 0 Schalke
Nice 2 v 1 Krasnodar
Europa League Outright (odds courtesy of Bodog)
Man Utd +500
Roma +900
Shakhtar Donetsk +1200
Zenit +1400
Schalke +1400
