Europa League: McGinn’s early goal gives Aston Villa the first victory of the season

Rangers remain Winless Giroud on Target Zaroury Scores Hat Trick

The early goal of Captain John McGinn was enough to give Aston Villa his first victory of the season while the English side Bologna defeated 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.

McGinn defeated Bologna goalkeeper łukasz Skorupski with a low shot with left-feet from outside the area 13 minutes in the game in Villa Park.

Replacement Ollie Watkins earned a penalty in the second half, but then did not succeed in stretching the lead with a poorly executed place kick saved by Skorupski.

Villa has endured a frustrating start in the interior, 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 Europa League with four titles, three with Seville and one with Villarreal.

Emery led Villa to placements of the fourth and sixth in the last two Premier League seasons and to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. But this season, Villa Winless is in the Premier League, scores a single goal in five games and has already been eliminated from the English League Cup.

The match against the A-Team Serie was a rematch of their meeting last season in Villa Park in the Champions League, where Villa won 2-0. McGinn also scored one in that competition.

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Another team struggling in his domestic competition, Winless Rangers, fell on a 1-0 loss for Belgian visitors Genk in Ibrox Stadium, a result that only exerts more pressure on coach Russell Martin.

Rangers -Midfielder Mohamed Diomande was sent four minutes before the break for a straight red card. But goalkeeper Jack Butland prevented the visitors to take the lead before the break by saving a penalty from Oh Hyeon-Gyu in the first half of the stop time.

But the South Korea striker found the back of the net for 10 minutes in the second half and beat Butland with a left-foot strike.

In one of the early kicking off, veteran striker Olivier Giroud came from the bank to score a late goal and give Lille a 2-1 victory on Brann.

The 38-year-old former Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan and Los Angeles FC striker went into the area to meet a cross-shape Tiago Santos and to go home the winner for 10 minutes.

Hamza Igamane broke the impasse for nine minutes in the second half to give Lille a 1-0 lead. The Norwegian visitors answered six minutes later on a fast counter through Saevar Atli Magnússon.

In another early match, the Romanian club FCSB won 1-0 away from Go to Go Aont Eagles, in the debut of the Dutch team in the competition. The hosts qualified by winning the Dutch cup.

In Bern, Morocco Anass Zaroury yielded three goals and Karol Swiderski added one for Panathinaikos to rug young boys 4-1 after he had jumped to a 3-0 lead after only 19 minutes. Saidy Janko withdrew one for young boys.

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Recently signed wing player Badredine Bouanani scored for Stuttgart by lobbing goalkeeper Ionut Radu, and Bilal El Khannouss added one in the second half to give Celta Vigo a 2-1 defeat. Borja Iglesis reduced the shortage for the Spanish club, which returned to a European competition for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

Lyon also won 1-0 away in Utrecht thanks to a strike by replacement Tanner Tessmann and Porto defeated Salzburg with the same score after another replacement, William Gomes, scored the winner in the stop time.

Hungarian champion Fenencáros was reduced to 10 men after midfielder Cebrail Makreckis received his second yellow card in the 38th minute, but succeeded in drawing 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 competition phase and are arranged in a single stand table.

The opening round was distributed in two days. On Wednesday, Antony’s deceased equalizer saved a 2-2 draw for Real Betis against Nottingham Forest.

Published on September 26, 2025