Today is Thursday, meaning the UEFA Europa League will be back in action! Two weeks have passed since the 2021/22 season kicked off, with Matchday 2 set to commence this midweek amid a plethora of intriguing fixtures.
September 15-16 was when Matchday 1 took place, with the likes of Lyon, West Ham, Olympiacos, Monaco, Real Betis, and Bayer Leverkusen enjoying lovely opening day victories. Turkish heavyweights Galatasaray took on Italian side Lazio in one of the standout fixtures, beating the Serie A outfit 1-0 thanks to a Strakosha own goal. However, not every big name picked up three points from the get-go.
Real Sociedad were held to a 2-2 draw by Dutch giants PSV while English and Italian sides Leicester and Napoli also played out a draw via an identical scoreline. Marseille, meanwhile, were held to a one-all stalemate by 10-man Lokomotiv Moscow while Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt were also forced to share the spoils with Group D rivals Fenerbahce.
As usual, all 16 games will be played on Thursday, with eight kicking off at 12:45 p.m. ET and the remaining fixtures getting underway at 3 p.m. ET. Here's everything you need to know about Matchday 2 of the UEFA Europa League.
UEFA Europa League standings ahead of Matchday 2
| Lug. | Equipa | J | V | E | D | GM | GS | DG | P | Resultados | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grupo A | |||||||||||
| 1 | West Ham United | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 15 | VVVDV | |
| 2 | Freiburg | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 12 | DVVVD | |
| 3 | Olympiakos Piraeus | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 7 | VDDVE | |
| 4 | Bačka Topola | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 19 | -13 | 1 | DDDDE | |
| Grupo B | |||||||||||
| 1 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 13 | VVVVE | |
| 2 | Olympique Marseille | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 11 | DVVVE | |
| 3 | Ajax | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 5 | VDDDE | |
| 4 | AEK Athens | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 4 | DDDDE | |
| Grupo C | |||||||||||
| 1 | Rangers | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 11 | VEVED | |
| 2 | Sparta Praha | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 | VVDED | |
| 3 | Real Betis | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 9 | DDVVV | |
| 4 | Aris | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 13 | -6 | 4 | DEDDV | |
| Grupo D | |||||||||||
| 1 | Atalanta | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 14 | VEVEV | |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 11 | VEVED | |
| 3 | Sturm Graz | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 4 | DDDEV | |
| 4 | Raków Częstochowa | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | -7 | 4 | DVDED | |
| Grupo E | |||||||||||
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 12 | DVDVV | |
| 2 | Toulouse | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 11 | VEVDV | |
| 3 | Union Saint-Gilloise | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 8 | VEDVD | |
| 4 | LASK Linz | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 3 | DDVDD | |
| Grupo F | |||||||||||
| 1 | Villarreal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 13 | VEVVV | |
| 2 | Rennes | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 12 | DVVVD | |
| 3 | Maccabi Haifa | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 5 | VEDDE | |
| 4 | Panathinaikos | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 4 | DDDDE | |
| Grupo G | |||||||||||
| 1 | Slavia Praha | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 4 | +13 | 15 | VVVDV | |
| 2 | Roma | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 13 | VEDVV | |
| 3 | Servette | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 13 | -9 | 5 | DEVED | |
| 4 | Sheriff | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 17 | -12 | 1 | DDDED | |
| Grupo H | |||||||||||
| 1 | Bayer Leverkusen | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | +16 | 18 | VVVVV | |
| 2 | Qarabağ | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 10 | VEDDV | |
| 3 | Molde | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 7 | DEVVD | |
| 4 | Häcken | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 17 | -14 | 0 | DDDDD | |
Top games to watch on Matchday 2 in the UEFA Europa League
Napoli vs Spartak Moskva: This Group C clash will see one of the tournament's most in-form clubs—Napoli—take on a struggling Spartak Moskva side. Despite finishing as runners-up in the Russian Premier League campaign last season, Rui Vitória's men have begun the domestic season with four defeats out of nine fixtures and lost their opening Europa League game, going 1-0 down against Legia Warsaw.
Napoli, on the other hand, boast a perfect record in the Italian top-flight and thus sit top of the Serie A table with six wins out of six. While Insigne and Co. did draw on Matchday 1, they put in a resilient performance, fighting from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Leicester thanks to an Osimhen brace. Will the Italians add Spartak Moskva to their list of victims or will the Russian outfit bounce back on Thursday? Tune in to find out.
Real Sociedad vs Monaco: Two of the biggest names in this season's Europa League campaign are Real Sociedad and Monaco, and these two sides are set to face off on Thursday! The Spanish side are second in La Liga and are thus the more in-form club; however, La Real did not enjoy their opening match, drawing 2-2 with PSV. Niko Kovac's Ligue 1 outfit, on the other hand, triumphed 1-0 over SK Sturm Graz and could thus stretch their lead over Isak and Co. to five points should they win at the Anoeta Stadium.
Celtic vs Bayer Leverkusen: Celtic were beaten in their opening game of the tournament, going 4-3 down at Real Betis in an exciting 90 minutes of football. Back-to-back defeats for the Scottish giants would be devastating for their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage, meaning winning is a must. Unfortunately, Bayer Leverkusen have been nothing short of deadly recently, winning their last three games in a row and scoring 17 times in their last six fixtures.
Olympique Marseille vs Galatasaray: These two sides have enjoyed contrasting starts to their domestic leagues. Marseille marched to three wins from their opening four games in Ligue 1 and while they've managed only one victory from their last four outings in all competitions, Sampaoli's men sit third in the French top-flight standings. Galatasaray, on the other hand, are 10th in the Super Lig, having won once in their last five games.
Despite all of this, it was the Turkish giants that enjoyed the three points in the opening round, beating Lazio 1-0 thanks to an own goal from Maurizio Sarri's side. Cengiz Under and Co. were held to a draw by Lokomotiv Moscow and will thus need to bounce back when they host their Group E rivals.
Who's in and who's out
Here are the list of players ruled out for the upcoming round from the UEFA Europa League's top clubs:
Napoli: Faouzi Ghoulam, Stanislav Lobotka
Marseille: Arkadiusz Milik
Galatasaray: Sacha Boey, Arda Turan, Baris Alper Yilmaz, Omar Elabdellaoui
Real Sociedad: David Silva, Alexander Isak, Jon Guridi, Nacho Monreal, Carlos Fernandez, Diego Rico, Jon Pacheco, Asier Illarramendi, Ander Barrenetxea
Monaco: Youssouf Fofana & Aleksandr Golovin (both doubtful)
West Ham: Ryan Fredericks, Vladimir Coufal (doubt)
Bayer Leverkusen: Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Julian Baumgartlinger, Exequiel Palacios, Edmond Tapsoba, Niklas Lomb
Celtic: Karamoko Dembele, Christopher Jullien, Kyogo Furuhashi, Callum McGregor, Georgios Giakoumakis, James Forrest, Greg Taylor
