Victory of "Marseille" in the class
Before the match of the last round of the Europa League group stage, Lokomotiv faced an almost impossible task. The railroad workers lost their chances of reaching the playoffs of the tournament, and in order to get into the Conference League, they had to beat Marseille, which had gotten a good move, on the road.
In addition, serious personnel problems made life difficult for the Russian team. Due to various injuries, Marinato Guilherme, Daniil Kulikov, Stanislav Magkeev, Anton Miranchuk, Rifat Zhemaletdinov, Girano Kerk and Tino Angorin could not enter the field. And Dmitry Barinov earned a disqualification for busting cards. As a result, Markus Gisdol had to throw young people into battle: 17-year-old goalkeeper Daniil Khudyakov, 19-year-old Sergei Babkin, 20-year-old Maxim Petrov and 22-year-old Maxim Nenakhov. In addition, during the first half, François Camano received a hand injury, whose place was taken by another pupil of the club academy Dmitry Rybchinsky.
Judging by the numbers on the scoreboard, the Muscovites played a decent game. The defeat at a party with a minimum score from the third French team at the moment is not the worst result. However, in reality, the owners looked stronger and could have distinguished themselves much more than once. They owned the ball 68% of the time, delivered 14 shots (6 for Loko) and made almost three times as many passes (684 versus 267).
Khudyakov, who made four saves, saved the guests from defeat.
However, in the episode with the only goal, he failed to help out his partners.
After a corner kick, Pablo and Tin Jedvay left Arkadiusz Milik all alone in the goalkeeper's room, and he calmly sent the ball into the net.
But veteran Steve Mandanda frankly missed the last line of Marseille, because the opponent did not score a single shot on target.
Even the removal of Valentin Rongier in the 80th minute did not help.
Most of the red-greens could rather miss.
Thus, the railroad finished their performance in European competition with only two points and in last place in their group.
PSV's fateful mistakes
By the final round, in most quartets, two teams were determined, which were supposed to continue their performance in the LE.
One of the exceptions was Group B. In it, Monaco guaranteed themselves the first place, while Real Sociedad and PSV had to fight for the second in a face-to-face meeting in San Sebastian.
At the same time, the team from the Netherlands was ahead of the competitor by two points and could play for a draw.
At first, everything went according to the guests' plan.
They calmly kept the zeros on the scoreboard and could even score.
However, it was ruined by blunders.
Philip Mvenet at the very end of the first half played with his hand in his own penalty area and gave his opponent an excellent chance, which Mikel Oyarzabal did not miss. In the second half, the striker scored a double after the opponent's rough cut. Finally, Ibraim Sangare received a second yellow card for the go-ahead in his half of the field. Alexander Serlot put an end to the opposition - 3: 0. Real Sociedad will play in the 1/16 finals of the LE, where they can get to Zenit, and PSV is content with a performance in the LC.
Another match of this quartet ended in an unexpected draw.
“Monaco” on the road failed to beat the outsider “Shturm” - 1: 1.
Already in the sixth minute, Mohammed Al-Hakim, having watched the replay, appointed a penalty kick to the guests' goal, which was converted by former Dynamo Moscow striker Jacob Yantscher.
The Monegasques won back after half an hour of the meeting thanks to the accurate blow of Kevin Folland, but they were not enough for more.
Moreover, during the break, Niko Kovacs removed several of his leaders from the field at once.
And at the very beginning of the second half, Alexander Golovin was also replaced.
In the 57 minutes allotted to him, the domestic footballer managed to receive a yellow card, as well as to give a corner, which ended with a productive shot by a partner.
Bayer's two canceled goals
Also, the final game day of the Europa League group stage was notable for the debut of Russian goalkeeper Andrey Lunev with Bayer.
The coach of the German team Gerardo Seoane promised in advance to give rest to the main goalkeeper Lukasz Hradecki and give a chance to his replacement, who until then was content with being in reserve.
It is surprising that the rest of the coaching staff did not rotate the squad, although the Leverkusen team secured first place in Group G in advance.
As a result, the first pancake turned out to be rather lumpy for Lunev.
In the away match against Ferencváros, he was largely out of work, because until the 82nd minute the hosts did not strike a single shot on target.
However, the first one turned out to be an assist.
Andrey did not cope with Aiss Laiduni's shot from close range, and the guests suffered their debut defeat in the LE.
It is curious that the representative of Ukraine, Alexander Zubkov, recorded the assist at his own expense.
Well, the meeting was served by a domestic team of judges headed by Kirill Levnikov, which, perhaps, was much more noticeable than the players.
The referee canceled two Leverkusen goals at once.
Disappointing defeat for Leicester
But the most intriguing situation was in Group C, where all four teams could either make it to the LE playoffs, or take the last place and finish their performance in European competitions. Fortunately, Spartak beat Legia on the road and finished in first place. In fact, Napoli and Leicester fought for the second and 1/16 finals of the tournament. At the same time, the English team on the eve of the decisive meeting faced serious staffing difficulties. According to media reports, seven players, including Kelechi Iheanacho, Ademola Lukman and Ayose Perez, did not come to Italy due to health problems. Allegedly, some of them passed positive tests for coronavirus, while others just got sick.
As a result, the bloodless guests did everything to get a draw that suits them. The beginning of the confrontation turned out to be extremely unfortunate for them. By the middle of the first half, the Neapolitans scored two unanswered goals. However, Brendan Rogers' wards managed to accomplish the impossible and recoup even before the break. Success brought them a successful set pieces, and Alex Meret's goal was hit by Johnny Evans and Kirman Dewsbury Hall.
However, at the very beginning of the second half of the meeting, Napoli still snatched the victory.
Elif Elmas closed Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cross from the flank and scored a double.
Thus, the Macedonian midfielder caught up with Viktor Osimhen in the team scorers race.
Both have four goals in the League.
The game was overshadowed only by the injury of Irwin Lozano.
The Mexican unsuccessfully collided with Oninje Ndidi and left the field on a stretcher.
It is reported that the football player is suspected of having a concussion.
Vouchers to the playoffs for Dynamo and Crvena Zvezda
Until the last moment, the intrigue remained in Group H, where Dynamo Zagreb and Genk claimed the second place.
The Croatian champion was two points ahead of his pursuer, but had to go to London to West Ham.
The English team had guaranteed themselves the first place in advance, and therefore David Moyes, with a clear conscience, released a semi-reserve squad on the field.
As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided by one magnificent shot by Mislav Orsic in the third minute.
The attacker tried to serve into the penalty area from the left flank, but the ball flew along an incredible trajectory exactly into the far top corner with a rebound from the bar.
It is not entirely correct to make claims to Alphonse Areola, because no goalkeeper could help out in this situation.
In the future, Dynamo was more likely to increase its own advantage than West Ham to recoup.
As a result, the Londoners suffered their first defeat in the current UEL, while the Zagrebians finished second.
Genk did not even make it to the LK, as it lost to Rapid.
Another Balkan team that made it to the UEL playoffs was Crvena Zvezda.
Moreover, the Serbian team went straight to the 1/8 finals.
In the final match, on the road, he broke with the main pursuer "Braga" - 1: 1.
After the break, the rivals exchanged realized penalties.
Aleksandar Katai answered Wenderson's goal.
It is noteworthy that the Danish Midtjylland could bypass the opponents in case of their own victory, but they did not manage to print the gate of the outsider Ludogorets, who thus made a gift to Crvena Zvezda.