3-1 against Donetsk: Glasner with Crystal Palace before the final

Nottingham Forest also won their home game in the all-English Europa League duel with Aston Villa 1-0. A Spanish opponent could be waiting for Glasner’s “Eagles” in Leipzig on May 27th. The Brazilian Alemao headed Rayo Vallecano to a deserved 1-0 home win against Racing Strasbourg.

Glasner was able to celebrate a dream start in the Schachtar alternative stadium in Krakow. Jean-Philippe Mateta sent Ismaila Sarr into the lane for the fastest goal in Conference League history; after 22 seconds it was 1-0. As a result, the Ukrainians, coached by former Turkish international Arda Turan, took over the game, but a standard situation was needed to make it 1-1. Oleg Otscheretko was there after a corner (47′). The “Eagles”, however, acted efficiently. Daichi Kamada (58th) and Jörgen Strand Larsen on the counterattack (84th) ensured the victory.

Grillitsch was missing with a muscle injury

In the Europa League, the final pairing for Istanbul (May 20th) is completely open. Only one ÖFB player, Lienhart, showed up at the Felsenstadion in Braga. Grillitsch was not in the squad; he had landed on the Portuguese’s already long list of failures with a muscle injury. According to an ORF report, the ÖFB team player will no longer play a match at club level this season. The midfielder’s World Cup appearance is therefore not in danger.

Braga took an early lead against Freiburg, who started passively. Demir Tiknaz poked the ball behind Lienhart into the far corner (8th). Eight minutes later the score was 1-1. After major coordination problems in the Braga defense, Vincenzo Grifo completed a counterattack to make it 1-1. Goalie Noah Atubolu prevented the hosts from taking the lead again by parrying a VAR penalty against Rodrigo Zalazar that Lienhart was responsible for (45th + 2). Lienhart had pulled his opponent to the ground. However, at the invitation of the “penalty killer”, the lucky punch ultimately fell in favor of the Portuguese. Atubolu let a central shot rebound, Mario Gorgeles scored (92nd) and put Freiburg, who were still undefeated at home, under pressure for the second leg.

Nottingham can still dream of a European title. The two-time Master Cup winner (1979 and 1980) initially put their favorite league rivals Aston Villa in their place. A penalty made the difference. With a blundering action on the goal line, Lucas Digne was awarded a hand penalty, which Chris Wood safely converted against Emiliano Martinez. Before that, Argentina’s world champion goalie had set the scene for the game with a reflex against Igor Jesus.