Matías Soulé and Lorenzo Pellegrini on target as Roma outclass Rangers

There was admirable efficiency about the way Roma dealt with this trip to Glasgow. Minimum of fuss. The team from Italy’s capital did, nonetheless, meet favourable opposition when placing their Europa League bid back on track. There was a glaring gulf in quality between Roma and a Rangers side which has now lost a club record seven European games in a row.

To their credit, Rangers at least huffed and puffed during a second half when capitulation felt the more likely option. However, the game was settled as a contest by then. Rangers remain rooted to the bottom of the Europa League, which should constitute an embarrassment to a club of this standing. Roma have eyes once more on making proper impact. Their only regret here was in not delivering a scoreline appropriately depicting men against boys.

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Europa League: Midtjylland dispatch Celtic as Nottingham Forest draw blank

  • Martin O’Neill’s side leak three first-half goals in 3-1 defeat

  • Gibbs-White misses penalty as Forest held by Sturm Graz

Celtic’s revival under Martin O’Neill came juddering to a halt in Jutland after they were beaten 3-1 by Midtjylland. The Hoops’ hopes of prolonging their Europa League campaign into the knockout stages suffered a major blow as the Danes hammered in three goals in eight first-half minutes.

The teenage substitute Callum Osmand won a late penalty which Reo Hatate converted, but the 19-year-old was then taken off on a stretcher in tears after suffering what appeared to be a hamstring injury on a horrible evening for the Scottish champions.

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John McGinn: ‘Every year I have to prove myself against a younger or sexier player’

The Scottish midfielder on the constant battle to keep his place, the ‘stigma’ of employing a home chef, and why he believes Aston Villa will win a big trophy soon

John McGinn has spent the best part of half an hour reflecting on his journey to this point, his next appearance for Aston Villa his 300th for the club, when he volunteers something of a confession. Asked whether he has lasered in on nutrition to maximise performance, perhaps inspired by Erling Haaland revealing his penchant for raw milk and honey, the Villa captain smiles a little sheepishly. “Yeah, I have, which makes me feel quite uncomfortable because I’m from a very humble part of the world,” he says, referring to his roots in Clydebank, a few miles north-west of Glasgow.

“They will all laugh at me and wind me up for it but I do have a chef at home. I think there is a stigma towards it: ‘Who do you think you are?’ Which I get, because it used to be me thinking that. I was more nervous about telling my siblings and my mum and dad about the idea of having a chef than actually having one. My mum and dad were always running us about to training and if my dad was cooking it was always whatever is left in the fridge.

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‘It is very hard for us’: Maccabi Tel Aviv aim to give absent fans reason to smile

  • Fans banned from attending match at Aston Villa

  • Police granted section 60 stop-and-search powers

The Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Issouf Sissokho urged his teammates to make their supporters smile against Aston Villa, after away fans were banned from the politically charged Europa League match on Thursday.

The Israeli club’s fans were prohibited from attending on public safety grounds but, despite the ban, West Midlands police have been granted section 60 stop-and-search powers and plan to deploy more than 700 officers around Villa Park to cope with protests and potential unrest.

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Crystal Palace ask Premier League to move Leeds game as Carabao Cup row rumbles on

  • Palace want Leeds game played on 20 December

  • Club have been charged by the FA over Marinakis banner

Crystal Palace have asked the Premier League to move their fixture at Leeds on Sunday 21 December to the previous day to allow them more time to prepare for their rescheduled Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta revealed on Monday that Arsenal had requested their game at Everton on that Sunday be moved to Saturday 20 December after the EFL pushed back the last-eight tie at the Emirates to two days before Christmas.

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Danny Röhl off to losing start at Rangers as Brann expose deep flaws

Danny Röhl discovered Rangers’ problems run deeper than their former manager Russell Martin as they were blitzed 3-0 by Brann in Bergen. The 36-year-old German head coach was installed as Martin’s successor on Monday with Rangers sitting sixth in the Premiership and having lost their opening two games in the Europa League to Genk and Sturm Graz.

However, a new era at Rangers continued along familiar lines against a side third in the Norwegian top flight. Emil Kornvig scored five minutes before the break to give Freyr Alexandersson’s side a deserved interval lead, Jacob Sørensen added a second with Noah Holm firing in a third on a night when once again the beleaguered Light Blues performed to an embarrassingly low standard.

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Go Ahead Eagles hold on to stun Aston Villa after Buendía’s spot-kick miss

Aston Villa suffered a Europa League humbling as they were beaten by the Dutch minnows Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer. Unai Emery’s side looked on course to extend their winning streak to six matches in all competitions when they went ahead in the fourth minute through Evann Guessand. They missed a host of chances to finish the game, though, and came unstuck as goals from Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl either side of half-time gave Go Ahead Eagles a famous victory in one of the biggest games in their history.

This was an unexpected blip in Villa’s quest to finish in the top eight of the league phase as Emery plots a fifth Europa League title, and after Emiliano Buendía missed a penalty late on to get his side back on level terms the head coach lamented that his side must be more clinical from the spot. It was also a disappointing night for Jadon Sancho, who failed to make a telling impact on the second start since his loan move from Manchester United and was withdrawn in the second half.

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UK government ‘deeply saddened’ as Maccabi Tel Aviv decline any Aston Villa tickets

  • Government claims game weaponised to stoke fear

  • Villa say only fans with booking history can get tickets

The UK government has said it is “deeply saddened” by Maccabi Tel Aviv’s decision to decline any tickets offered to their fans for the Europa League match at Villa Park.

The local safety advisory group opted last week to block visiting fans from attending the tie against Aston Villa on 6 November after a risk assessment by West Midlands police, a decision that drew criticism from politicians including the prime minister, Keir Starmer.

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Europa League roundup: McGinn seals Villa win as Rangers and Celtic lose

  • Emi Buendía also on target in 2-0 win at Feyenoord

  • Rangers lose 2-1 at Sturm Graz; Celtic beaten by Braga

Emi Buendía and John McGinn struck second-half goals as Aston Villa beat Feyenoord 2-0 in Rotterdam to make it back-to-back Europa League wins.

Villa, who beat Bologna 1-0 in their opening game last week, held their nerve at De Kuip after coming under heavy first-half pressure, with Buendía and then McGinn scoring for Unai Emery’s side.

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Football Daily | Aston Villa finally win but remain a shadow of their former selves

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Seven games into the season and Aston Villa finally have a win on the board. And while it may have come in Bigger Vase, a competition they probably resent having to play in after being robbed of a lucrative Bigger Cup place by some overzealous refereeing in their final match of last season, it at least gives Unai Emery a platform on which to build, even if his players have yet to produce a performance even remotely fit to lace the steel-toed boots of all those geriatric rockers who joined Ozzy Osbourne at Villa Park for his summer farewell. Despite last night’s win, Emery’s side continue to look a pale facsimile of the one that pushed the tournament’s eventual winners, PSG, all the way over two legs in their Bigger Cup quarter-final last season. Something is definitely not quite right at Villa Park, a state of affairs perhaps best illustrated by the fact the assist for their winner came in the form of a comedy air-shot by the desperately out-of-sorts Morgan Rogers.

The story of Lewis White going to the wrong Bury (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition) reminds me of my first stag do, when I dragged all my London mates up to Manchester and to a home game at Gigg Lane, in the fancy hospitality section (well, fancy by Bury standards). We were late getting to the game and as we were walking from the tram stop to the ground, my best man got a call from the club asking if we were on our way. They were clearly so excited at the prospect of a large group who had travelled all the way up from London that they wanted to make sure we made it. If only the lads at Bury Town had extended the same courtesy to Mr White” – Tom Dowler.

In 1994 pop singer Lena Fiagbe was booked to appear at the Radio One Roadshow in Bangor to perform her hit single (the, as it transpired, somewhat unfortunately titled) ‘Gotta Get It Right’. After a long trip to north Wales with her entourage, and some time fruitlessly looking for the park that was meant to be hosting Bruno Brookes et al, Lena’s manager placed a call to Radio 1 to ask for directions, only to be told they were expected in Bangor, Northern Ireland” – Tim Grey.

I admire Robbie Keane and wish him well in his role as manager of the legendary Hungarian club Ferencvaros, but I wish he would be more adventurous, tactically. I mean, just yesterday in Bigger Vase he parked Dibusz” – Peter Oh.

I read your story about Marko Arnautovic and his signing for Red Star (yesterday’s Football Daily). I must admit that, as a Serb and a cynic, I think that – apart from his huge love for Red Star and all the promises he made to the late Sinisa Mihajlovic – it certainly helps that Marko’s yearly salary is reportedly something like €2.5m, in a country where the average monthly wage is no bigger than €800” – Bogdan Kotarlic.

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Genk’s Oh Hyeon-gyu seals winning return to Glasgow and deepens Rangers’ gloom

More punishment for Rangers at the hand of a Belgian opponent. A familiar combination of self-destruction and the poor defending endemic under Russell Martin deepened Ibrox’s gloom. Reduced to 10 after Mohamed Diomande’s reckless first-half challenge, insult was added by Genk’s goal being scored by a former Celtic striker in Oh Hyeon-gyu.

Martin has talked of “results coming through difficulty” but could not have chosen to manage a club where poor results will cause more difficulty. Ibrox was undersold, just 38,000 present, though in attendance was Andrew Cavenagh, the chairman gladhanding fans before kick-off. The American co-owner’s scheduled visit to Glasgow has allowed him to experience what fans have been served during the new ownership’s choice of manager. “I’ll find out in about 15 minutes,” said Martin, asked if he had yet received Cavenagh’s verdict. “I look forward to seeing him.”

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Aston Villa 1-0 Bologna, Rangers 0-1 Genk, and more: Europa League – as it happened

John McGinn’s goal gave Aston Villa a win over Bologna – their first of the season – while Rangers were beaten at home by Genk

Emery tells TNT that Martinez is injured, then explains that this is a good opportunity for Malen. Otherwise, he says Villa have been good at home, but European games are always difficult. It’s their dream to play in Europe, but they’ll have to do well to get a result.

I wonder if Emery spoke harshly about his players because he thinks they should win tonight; if he does it and they don’t, what else can he then say? I think they’ll have too much in midfield for Bologna, and if they can just get that first win, they’ve got more than enough to have a decent season.

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Unai Emery needs progress but goalless Aston Villa have faith and blame PSR

Transfer spending curbs and a grim start weigh on Sunday’s Sunderland trip. Could the Europa League offer a boost?

The statistic doing the rounds this week was that Chris Wilder has been sacked and reappointed as the Sheffield United manager since Boubacar Kamara scored Aston Villa’s last league goal four months ago. Villa have been slow out of the blocks and this is unusual territory for Unai Emery, who has spent the best part of three years almost exclusively exceeding all expectations, elevating a team who were near the bottom of the Premier League into one capable of bloodying the noses of European superpowers in the Champions League.

But a sticky start, of four Premier League matches without a victory or goal – they are the only team in the English professional pyramid to carry that ignominious mantle – and a midweek Carabao Cup exit, has been rather in keeping with a difficult few months. Villa headed into the summer knowing incomings would be limited owing to the financial picture and they sold Jacob Ramsey, a homegrown and well-regarded player, plus some on the fringes, to help balance the books. But uncertainty lingered around key players until the September transfer deadline, none more so than their goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who had been keen to move. The additions of Harvey Elliott, who will join permanently next summer, Jadon Sancho and Victor Lindelöf belatedly provided a much-needed boost.

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Crystal Palace hit out at Europa League ban: ‘Merit is rendered meaningless’

  • Club refer to ‘poorly conceived regulations’

  • Claim some clubs have ‘unique privilege and power’

Crystal Palace have called on Uefa to scrap its rules on multi-club ­ownership (MCO) and questioned whether they received a fair hearing at the court of arbitration of sport after their appeal against demotion from the Europa League was rejected.

Cas confirmed on Monday it had upheld Uefa’s decision to demote the FA Cup winners to the Conference League after it decided John Textor held shares and had a decisive influence in Palace and Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League. ­Textor has since sold his 44.9% stake in the club to another US businessman, Woody Johnson.

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