Captain John McGinn’s early goal was enough to give Aston Villa its first win of the season as the English side beat Bologna 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.
McGinn beat Bologna goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski with a low left-foot shot from outside the area 13 minutes into the match at Villa Park.
Substitute Ollie Watkins earned a penalty in the second half but then failed to stretch the lead with a poorly executed spot kick that was saved by Skorupski.
Villa has endured a frustrating start domestically, with three draws and two losses in the Premier League. But it has a coach who knows how to succeed in Europe: Unai Emery is the most successful manager in the second-tier Europa League with four titles, three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal.
Emery led Villa to placings of fourth and sixth in the last two Premier League seasons and to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. But this season Villa is winless in the Premier League, scoring a single goal in five games and already eliminated from the English League Cup.
The game against the Serie A team was a rematch of their encounter last season at Villa Park in the Champions League, where Villa won 2-0. McGinn also scored one in that game.
Rangers remain winless
Another team struggling in its domestic league, winless Rangers, fell to a 1-0 loss to Belgian visitors Genk at Ibrox Stadium, a result that only puts more pressure on coach Russell Martin.
Rangers midfielder Mohamed Diomande was sent off for a straight red card four minutes before halftime. But goalkeeper Jack Butland prevented the visitors from taking the lead before the break by saving a penalty from Oh Hyeon-gyu in first-half stoppage time.
But the South Korea striker found the back of the net 10 minutes into the second half, beating Butland with a left-foot strike.
Giroud on target
In one of the early kickoffs, veteran striker Olivier Giroud came off the bench to score a late goal and give Lille a 2-1 win over Brann.
The 38-year-old former Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan and Los Angeles FC striker surged into the area to meet a cross form Tiago Santos and head home the winner 10 minutes from time.
Hamza Igamane broke the deadlock nine minutes into the second half from close range to give Lille a 1-0 lead. The Norwegian visitors replied six minutes later on a fast counter through Saevar Atli Magnússon.
In another early game, Romanian club FCSB won 1-0 away at Go Ahead Eagles, in the Dutch team’s debut in the competition. The hosts qualified by winning the Dutch Cup.
Zaroury scores hat trick
In Bern, Morocco forward Anass Zaroury netted three goals and Karol Swiderski added another for Panathinaikos to rout Young Boys 4-1 after jumping out to a 3-0 lead after just 19 minutes. Saidy Janko pulled one back for Young Boys.
Recently signed winger Badredine Bouanani scored for Stuttgart by lobbing goalkeeper Ionut Radu, and Bilal El Khannouss added one more in the second half to hand Celta Vigo a 2-1 defeat. Borja Iglesis reduced the deficit for the Spanish club, which returned to a European competition for the first time since 2016-17 season.
Also, Lyon won 1-0 away at Utrecht courtesy of a strike by substitute Tanner Tessmann and Porto beat Salzburg by the same score after another substitute, William Gomes, scored the winner in stoppage time.
Hungarian champion Fenencáros was reduced to 10 men after midfielder Cebrail Makreckis received his second yellow card in the 38th minute but managed to draw 1-1 with Czech side Viktoria Plzeň in Budapest.
The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.
The opening round was split over two days. On Wednesday, Antony’s late equalizer rescued a 2-2 draw for Real Betis against Nottingham Forest.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
