Ex Celtic Striker Seals Defeat for Rangers in Europa League Opener
Rangers 0-1 Genk Oh Hyeon-Gyu (55′) Rangers slipped to a narrow defeat against Genk in the Europa League, as their difficult season opening continued. The home side was reduced to 10 men after Mohamed Diomande lunged at Zakaria El Ouahdi on the stroke of halftime. Beforehand, John Souttar had gone close to opening the scoring, but his header was expertly cleared off the line thanks to a Bryan Heynen overhead kick. Genk had a golden chance to open the scoring after James Tavernier caught Yaimar Medina in the box, but Jack Butland was on hand to save Oh’s resultant penalty, keeping the scores level. The South Korean striker gave Genk the lead ten minutes into the second half, racing clear of the Rangers backline and drilling a low strike across Butland. Rangers were unable to find the equaliser. Heynen’s brilliant late save from Connor Barron’s strike was the closest they came. Rangers return to Premiership action against Livingston on Sunday afternoon, before a trip to Austria to face Sturm Graz in Europa League Matchday 2. Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Cornelius, Meghoma Raskin, Diomande, Aasgaard, Moore, Chermiti, Gassama Genk: Van Crombrugge, Medina, Kayembe, Sadick, Smets, El Ouahdi, Bangoura, Heynen, Hrosovsky, Steuckers, Oh
Aston Villa v Bologna : Match Preview
Aston Villa begin their Europa League campaign on Thursday night, hosting Italian outfit Bologna at Villa Park. A 6th-placed finish in the Premier League last campaign ensured Aston Villa would return to the Europa League for the first time since 2008/09. Villa narrowly missed out on a Champions League spot on the final day of last season, having suffered a 2-0 defeat against Man United at Old Trafford. Newcastle claimed the final UCL spot, finishing fifth on goal difference. Unai Emery’s side are no strangers to European football, as a third-consecutive European journey awaits the Villans. Aston Villa have had a difficult start to the 2025/26 Premier League season, playing five matches and failing to pick up a single win in any of those encounters, whilst only managing to find the net once. Losses against Brentford and Crystal Palace, whilst picking up draws against Newcastle, Everton and Sunderland, mean Villa are still in search of their first three points. Villa were also knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brentford in the third round after losing 5-4 in a penalty shootout. The game had finished 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Harvey Elliott netting the only goal. Last time out Villa were made to settle for a point against 10-man Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon. Poland international Matty Cash rifled a superb long-distance strike beyond Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs to end Villa’s goal drought, before Wilson Isidor’s 75th-minute effort rescued a point for Sunderland. An insight into Bologna Villa’s opponents, Bologna will feature in the Europa League for the first time in twenty five years. Manager Vincenzo Italiano guided Bologna to a first major trophy in 51 years last season, as they enjoyed silverware success, defeating Italian giants AC Milan 1-0 in the Coppa Italia final. Dan Ndoye’s decisive goal earned Bologna a place in this season’s Europa League. This will be the second consecutive season that Bologna are involved in a European competition, they featured in the UEFA Champions League last time around. The Serie A side were unable to make it out of the league phase after finishing 28th out of 36 teams. Their only victory came against Borussia Dortmund. Bologna’s start to the 2025/26 Serie A campaign has seen them experience mixed fortunes. Vincenzo Italiano’s team have played four matches, winning two and losing two. Both of Bologna’s victories have come at home — a 1-0 win over Como, while defeating Genoa 2-1 most recently. Their two defeats have come in away matches against Roma and AC Milan. Last time out Bologna secured a dramatic victory over Genoa on Saturday. Bologna were awarded a spot-kick in the 99th minute of the game, with the match finely poised at 1-1. Genoa winger Valentín Carboni was penalised for a handball after a VAR check. Bologna attacker Ricardo Orsolini would then make no mistake from 12 yards out to give Bologna all three points. Previous meetings The last meeting between these sides was as recent as last season. October 2024 saw Villa welcome Bologna to Villa Park in the league phase of the Champions League. Goals from John McGinn and Jhon Durán secured a 2-0 win for Villa that night. Team news Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliott will be eager to make their first appearances in the Europa League for Aston Villa. Andres Garcia and Ross Barkley were involved in full training on Wednesday, while Belgian internationals Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana remain doubtful for this one. Nicolò Casale, Tommaso Pobega, Ibrahim Sulemana and Ciro Immobile are all set to miss Thursday’s Europa League opener, having been unavailable for Bologna’s last game. Right-back Lorenzo De Silvestri won’t feature, as he was left out of Bologna’s Europa League squad.
‘I’ve actually, in a perverse way, enjoyed that’ – Russell Martin reveals he thrives on the backlash
It’s safe to say Russell Martin has had a tough start to life at Rangers with many of the Ibrox faithful demanding for his sacking but the under fire boss claims he enjoys the hostility towards him. The Light Blues won their first game in over a month at the weekend defeating Hibernian 2-0 at Ibrox to progress to the Premier Sports Cup semi-final where they’ll have a showdown with Celtic. There were protests before the game outside the stadium against Martin and chief executive Patrick Stewart as the Rangers fans made their feelings known loud and clear. The Gers have won four games out of 13 and currently sit 11th in the Scottish Premiership table only managing to rack up a total of four points from five games. Martin’s side kickstart their Europa League campaign tonight as they take on Genk, another club who aren’t in a great place as they currently sit third bottom in the Belgian Pro League. Despite the furious backlash against Martin, the 39-year-old said he finds enjoyment in it and believes himself and the players could learn from this tough period: “Being a head coach or manager of any team or club is not easy. There’s obviously so many opinions because of the level of interest in this game and how much it means to people. “I’ve actually, in a perverse way, enjoyed that as well. I think you have to try and find enjoyment in everything. “I’ve said to the players, I’ve said to the staff and it counts for us as well as individuals, the amount of growth that can come from this, in this difficult period in learning, could be huge, could be brilliant for everyone, myself included. “We just have to keep working, do what we believe in and trust that the outcome will be positive.”
