West Ham secure win over Olympiakos in Europa League

Agency :
West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta scored a late goal to earn his side a 1-0 home win over Olympiacos Piraeus as they retained top spot in Europa League Group A, while Olympique de Marseille won 2-0 at AEK Athens to remain first in Group B on Thursday.

West Ham lost 2-1 away to the Greek side a fortnight ago but their win at the London Stadium put them level on nine points with second-placed Freiburg, who crushed bottom side Backa Topola 5-0. Olympiakos are third with four points.

“If I was being honest, I don’t think we made enough chances or opportunities and I need to look to see why that was the case,” West Ham manager David Moyes said.

Paqueta broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute with a deft left-foot volley following a delightful James Ward-Prowse chip over the defence for his third goal in European competition this season, which was confirmed after a Video Assistant Review (VAR) for offside.

The West Ham fans then held their breath late on as the visitors nearly equalized when Mady Camara’s close-range header struck the post when he should have scored.

Marseille secured a second victory with their win in Athens thanks to goals from Chancel Mbemba and Ismaila Sarr.

Mbemba opened the scoring with a header from a corner after 25 minutes and Sarr struck three minutes into stoppage time.

The Ligue 1 side have eight points, one ahead of European debutants Brighton & Hove Albion, who secured a 2-0 victory at Ajax Amsterdam on Thursday.

Liverpool suffered a shock 3-2 loss at French side Toulouse in Group E, although Juergen Klopp’s side still top the standings with nine points after being denied an equalizer in the last minute of added time by VAR.

Liverpool thought they had salvaged a draw when Jarell Quansah found the net in the seventh minute of stoppage time, but VAR disallowed it due to a handball by Alexis Mac Allister earlier in the move.

“We scored a third one, I think it was a goal 100%. It was pretty long ago the ball was in a tricky situation, I am not even sure it just the hand at all but that is how it is,” Klopp said.

“With all the possession you have obviously you should create more but you cannot concede three goals here, that makes no sense.”

Klopp’s interview was interrupted by boisterous cheers and screaming by celebrating Toulouse supporters.