The three French clubs involved in the Europa League won this evening. For the return of Europe to La Beaujoire, Nantes offered a victory on the wire 2-1 against Olympiakos, in a stadium in turmoil, during the 1st day of the Europa League, after two decades of absence on the European scene. With this success, the Canaries take the lead in their group G, tied with Fribourg, who won by the same scoreline against Qarabag.
Sometimes shaken by Red Star Belgrade, Monaco managed to win 1-0 in Serbia thanks to a penalty from Breel Embolo and thus launched their Europa League campaign perfectly. In the very homogeneous group H, this success outside the difficult “Marakana” of Belgrade, a famous stadium, is an excellent operation for the Monegasques, who will work next Thursday the Hungarians of Ferencvaros, winners 3-2 of Fenerbahce.
Earlier in the evening, Stade Rennais narrowly won 2 goals to 1 after added time on the ground of the modest Cypriot team from Larnaca. Stade Rennais, eliminated in the round of 16 of the Europa League Conference last year by Leicester, will continue with the reception of Auxerre on Sunday in the league, then that of the Turkish club Fenerbahçe next Thursday in this group B which also includes the Dynamo Kyiv.