There were wins for Liverpool, Manchester City and Celtic in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs last night, while Aston Villa were held to a 1-1 draw away to Rapid Vienna.
Ryan Babel scored the only goal of the game as a much-changed Liverpool side defeated Turkish side Trabzonspor at Anfield last night.
Babel netted in stoppage time at the end of the first half after being played in by Joe Cole, who missed a second half penalty to extend the Red’s advantage.
Mario Balotelli scored on his debut for Manchester City, who also registered a 1-0 victory away to Romanian side FC Timisoara last night.
The 20-year old Italian striker came on for Gareth Barry in the 57th minute and netted his debut goal 15 minutes later, slotting in from close range from an Emmanuel Adebayor pass.
An understrength Aston Villa side took the lead away to Rapid Vienna last night after 12 minutes, when Barry Bannan tapped home from a Marc Albrighton delivery, but Rapid equalised after 32 minutes when Atdhe Nuhiu got the faintest of touches to Steffen Hoffman’s right-wing cross and glanced a header past Brad Guzan.
Efrain Juarez and Georgios Samaras were on the mark in the first half for Celtic, who eased past FC Utrecht 2-0 at Celtic Park. Juarez opened the scoring after 19 minutes when he converted Baram Kayal’s penetrative through ball and Samaras added the second ten minutes before the break with an assured finish from Cha-Du-Ri’s right-wing cross.
The return legs of all ties will take place next Thursday, 26 August.
