Did Man Utd Shine While Spurs Stumble?

Manchester United beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday when Rasmus Hojlund scored late. Tottenham and Rangers drew a draw. Ruben Amorim’s United beat the Czechs after a second-half double by Danish attacker Hojlund. They are now sixth in the league phase.

“The win is important and it’s good to prepare for the next game,” United boss Amorim told TNT Sports.

United can qualify for the round of 16 by finishing in the top eight, or by competing in a play-off tie if they finish ninth to 24th. United were stunned when Matej Vydra scored three minutes after halftime, but substitute Hojlund struck twice in the last 30 minutes to give the English team a critical three points.

Two minutes from time, Bruno Fernandes brilliantly slid a free-kick into the 21-year-old, who held off a defender and scored. Spurs and Rangers tied 1-1 in Glasgow in the Europa League. Spurs and the hosts are tied for the final automatic qualification slot with 11 points.

“We took the challenge with both hands, grabbed it and showed what we wanted them to show,” said Rangers manager Philippe Clement.

“We deserved to win the game, but I think it was a very good advertisement for Scottish football to compete with a Premier League team at full strength.”

A draw eases Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou’s strain after his team had only one win in their last seven matches in all competitions. After the break, Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane scored his fourth goal in as many European games to give Rangers the lead.

Captain James Tavernier sent a beautiful inswinging pass from the right flank past the Spurs defense to Igamane, who scored at the far post. Substitutes Solanke wrong-footed the goalie with a beautiful finish from inside the box to tie the score with 25 minutes left.

In the closing 10 minutes, Fraser Forster saved from Cyriel Dessers to keep Spurs equal, while Rangers striker had a goal disallowed for offside. Fraser’s last save was outstanding. Postecoglou stressed its importance.

Lazio and Athletic Bilbao lead the rankings with 16 points after beating Ajax 3-1 in Amsterdam to advance to the knockouts. Lyon overcame Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 to go up to fourth, one place above the in-form Bundesliga team.

Anderlecht beat Slavia Prague 2-1 in Prague to move up to third.

Solid performance

A much-changed Chelsea team overcame Astana 3-1 in the Conference League to finish in the top eight and qualify for the round of 16.

“Good performance. We knew it was cold. We tried to adapt fast. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says the players handled the weather and long flight well yesterday.

Chelsea leads the standings with 15 points after five matches, two ahead of Vitoria Guimaraes, which won 4-1 at St Gallen.

First-half goals from Marc Guiu and Renato Veiga gave Chelsea the win. Marin Tomasov pulled one back for the hosts at halftime, but Maresca’s side barely looked concerned in the second half as they won.

Guiu, a Spanish teenager, scored twice in the first 20 minutes to give Chelsea the perfect start, bringing his European tally to three in five this season. Last season’s finalists Fiorentina trounced Austria’s LASK Linz 7-0 at home to go to the knockout stages.