Europa Conference League: Cologne and Basel celebrate victories | UEFA Europa Conference League
1. FC Köln took the lead in their group with their first win in the group stage of the 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League. Basel are also in the lead after a narrow win in Lithuania. Austria Vienna and Vaduz suffered bitter defeats.
UEFA.com rounds up the events of Matchday 2.
Zalgiris 0-1 Basel
FC Basel also won its second group game in the Europa Conference League. At Žalgiris in Lithuania, the Swiss made it 1-0 after just over an hour thanks to Andi Zeqiri’s goal. Darian Males provided the preparatory work for the goal of the day. The home side’s best chance with the name of left-back Petar Mamic. His corner just before the break fell dangerously on the crossbar.
The Liechtensteiners suffered their first defeat in the second group game. After a goalless draw against Apollon, Vaduz lost 4-1 at AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands. Anthony Goelzer was able to equalize the home side’s lead through Yusuf Barasi in the first half. In the final phase, however, the decimated guests obviously gave up their strength and AZ still scored three goals. Sam Beukema restored Alkmaar’s lead with nine minutes to go before Yukinari Sugawara and Dani de Wit sealed it in added time. To make matters worse, Vaduz’ keeper Benjamin Büchel saw the red card after a good hour.
Cologne – Slovakia 4:2
1. FC Köln bagged the first win in the club’s history in the group stage of the Europa Conference League. After a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals from Sargis Adamyan and Florian Dietz, the Czechs came back with a brace shortly after the break. Cologne coach Baumgart then brought on the experienced Hector and Skhiri. The Cologne game calmed down at first, before the home side picked up again and achieved the final deserved victory with a brace from Ljubicic.
Lech – Austria Vienna 4:1
Wiener Austria has to admit defeat to the Poles. Matthias Braunöder was able to equalize the opening goal of the hosts by Mikael Ishak, but Lech noticed in the second half and left the field as a deserved winner. Bitter for the guests was a missed penalty by Manfred Fischer when the score was 1:1. The three goals that decided Lech were scored by Michal Skoras and Kristoffer Velde in a double.
İstanbul Başakşehir 3-0 Fiorentina
Turkey held the upper hand in Group A’s top game against Fiorentina. After a goalless first half, Serdar Gürler put the home side ahead with a brace. Bertrand Traoré then made everything clear in the last minute of the game against Fiorentina, who were outnumbered for a quarter of an hour after Jonathan Ikoné received a yellow-red card.
All results of the 2nd matchday
Group A: RFS 0-2 Hearts, İstanbul Başakşehir 3-0 Fiorentina
Group B: FCSB 0-0 Anderlecht, Silkeborg 2-3 Westham
Group C: Lech – Austria Vienna 4: 1, H. Beer-Sheva – Villarreal 1: 2
Group D: Partizan 1-1 Nice, Cologne 4-2 Slovácko
Group E: Apollon Limassol – Dnipro-1 1: 3, AZ Alkmaar – Vaduz 4: 1
Group F: Djurgården 3-2 Molde, Gent 3-0 Shamrock Rovers
group g: Slavia Praha 3-2 Ballkani, CFR Cluj 0-1 Sivasspor
group h: Žalgiris 0-1 Basel, Pyunik 2-0 Slovan Bratislava
All games of Matchday 3 (October 6th)
Group A: Hearts – Florence (21:00), RFS – Istanbul Başakşehir (21:00)
Group B: Anderlecht – West Ham (18:45), Silkeborg – FCSB (18:45)
Group C: Lech – H. Beer-Sheva (18:45), Villarreal – Austria Vienna (21:00)
Group D: Slovakia – Nice (18:45), Cologne – Partizan (21:00)
Group E: Dnipro-1 – Vaduz (18:45), AZ Alkmaar – Apollon Limassol (21:00)
Group F: Molde – Shamrock Rovers (18:45), Ghent – Djurgården (21:00)
group g: Sivasspor – Ballkani (18:45), Slavia Praha – CFR Cluj (21:00)
group h: Pyunik – Žalgiris (18:45), Basel – Slovan Bratislava (21:00)