Rangers’ hit-and-miss striker Cyriel Dessers redeemed himself against Olympiakos with a second-half equaliser in the 1-1 Europa League draw in Greece.
On a night when the Rangers captain, James Tavernier, was dropped to the bench, the visitors did lots of things right in the first half but Dessers, who regularly frustrates his own fans, spurned two good opportunities and there were other half-chances for the Scottish side.
Olympiakos took the lead in the 56th minute through Moroccan forward Ayoub El Kaabi, who scored the winner in the Conference League final against Fiorentina last season.
However, Dessers levelled with a composed finish eight minutes later for his second goal five days, after scoring in the 2-1 comeback win over Motherwell in the League Cup semi-final on Sunday.
It was no more than Philippe Clement’s side deserved and they moved on to seven points from four matches and are still in with a chance of progressing into the knockout stage, albeit with games against Manchester United and Tottenham to come.
Eintracht Frankfurt and Athletic Bilbao moved above Spurs, with both sides on 10 points, after Eintracht overcame Slavia Prague 1-0 and Bilbao came from behind to win 2-1 at Ludogorets.
Roma were held to a 1-1 draw at Union Saint-Gilloise, with Gianluca Mancini putting the Italians ahead in the 62nd minute before Kevin Mac Allister equalised for the Belgian side.
Qarabag upset Bodø/Glimt 3-1 in Norway to earn their first points while Nice drew 2-2 with Twente with both teams finishing the game reduced to 10 men.
Conference League
Shamrock Rovers came from behind to beat The New Saints 2-1 in their Europa Conference League tie at the Tallaght Stadium in Dublin.
TNS – who became the first Welsh Premier team to take points in the group stage of a major European competition by beating Kazakhstan side Astana 2-0 in Shrewsbury in their last match – went ahead against the run of play in the 14th minute through Jordan Williams. Johnny Kenny soon equalised before in-form Dylan Watts turned the game around before half-time.
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Rovers, who missed out on a fifth successive Premier Division triumph last week, finishing runners-up as Shelbourne clinched the title, saw through the closing stages to pick up another European win, which keeps themselves firmly in contention for the knockout stage.
Legia Warsaw and Rapid Vienna both kept a perfect record by making it three wins from three games. Warsaw routed Dinamo Minsk 4-0 and Rapid eased past Petrocub 3-0 in Moldova.
Hearts produced a spirited display but were unable to maintain their perfect star as they went down 2-0 to Bundesliga side Heidenheim at Tynecastle.
The Edinburgh side, buoyed up by winning their opening two matches in the competition, appeared to have their German visitors rattled as they created a host of chances in the first half. But they were made to rue their failure to strike while on top as Heidenheim instead made it three victories out of three courtesy of second-half headers from Sirlord Conteh and substitute Jan Schöppner. Despite this setback, the Scottish Premiership side remain in the top half of the table before their trip to Cercle Brugge in three weeks.
Source: theguardian.com
