Europa League
Europa League LIVE: Arnautovic faces elimination
Marko Arnautovic and Red Star Belgrade have missed out on the round of 16 in the Europa League. Serbia's serial champions lost 2-0 to Lille in extra time in Thursday's playoff return leg in front of their home crowd and, despite their away win a week ago, were knocked out by the French side.
For Junior Adamu, Celtic Glasgow's run came to an end against VfB Stuttgart, while goalkeeper Florian Wiegele and Viktoria Plzen were defeated by Panathinaikos in a penalty shootout.
Lille coach Bruno Genesio brought in long-time French striker Olivier Giroud from the start in Belgrade – a move that paid off. The 39-year-old showed all his class in the 4th minute, heading home to give the Ligue 1 fifth-placed side the lead. Red Star's 1-0 lead from the first leg was thus gone. The Serbian champions struggled to establish themselves in attack in front of 46,477 spectators at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.
Here are the results:
Coach Dejan Stankovic brought on Arnautovic after the break. The home side now applied more pressure up front, but Red Star were unable to really shake their opponents. Arnautovic was also unable to set up his teammates. After a largely unspectacular game, the match went into extra time. Substitute right-back Nathan Ngoy Lille scored the winning goal in the 99th minute. Arnautovic had a free header, but it was too central (107'). A volley from the Viennese player was too weak (117'). It was Red Star's first defeat in 2026.
Adamu and Wiegele also no longer involved
Celtic were 1-4 down before the game in Stuttgart, but got off to a perfect start. Junior Adamu set up Luke McCowan to make it 1-0 after just 28 seconds. After that, the Swabians were on the front foot. However, Stuttgart lacked creative ideas in attack for a long time, and two goals in the second half were disallowed for offside. The Bundesliga club did not have to worry anymore. Adamu was substituted in the 55th minute.
In Pilsen, Panathinaikos took an early lead through Andreas Tetteh (9th minute), but Karel Spacil (62nd minute) equalized for the Czechs. After a 2-2 draw in the first leg, the game went into extra time, which remained goalless. In the penalty shootout, Wiegele saved a Greek attempt, but two of his teammates missed from the spot.
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