Europa League

Europa League roundup: Schalke 04, Shakhtar, Zenit maintain perfect records

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 24 November 2016

Europa League roundup: Trio maintain perfect records

Three teams remain on track to end the group-stage campaign with a 100% record following another night of drama in the Europa League.

Schalke 04, Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg have kept their perfect Europa League group-stage records intact heading into the final round of fixtures.

The three sides had already safely qualified for the round of 32 with time to spare, but it proved to be plain sailing once again as they racked up a eight goals without reply this evening.

Four of those goals are credited to Shakhtar, who scored a couple in either half to cruise past Konyaspor in Ukraine, while Braga and Gent played out a 2-2 draw elsewhere in Group H to leave things wide open for second place.

Zenit and Schalke put two past Maccabi Tel Aviv and Nice respectively, meanwhile, with the Ligue 1 high-flyers now unable to progress from Group I as a result of their fourth European defeat of the campaign.

It was a disappointing night for Dundalk, too, who slipped to a 1-0 reverse at home to a previously winless AZ side in Ireland to also see their hopes remain hanging in the balance ahead of the closing matchday in two weeks' time.

Elsewhere, Britain's contingent had a mixed night on the continent; Southampton fell 1-0 to Sparta Prague and Manchester United cruised past Feyenoord 4-0 to keep their trophy aspirations alive.

Defeat for the Red Devils would have spelt the end of their campaign due to Fenerbahce's earlier 2-0 win over Zorya Luhansk, but they did more than enough to take it down to the wire in Group A.

Arguably the most entertaining match of the night came in Southampton's Group K, though, as Hapoel Be'er Sheva recovered from two down to beat fallen European giants Inter Milan 3-2, setting up a straight shootout with the Saints in a fortnight's time.

Europa League matchday five results in full: Astana 2-1 APOEL, Fenerbahce 2-1 Zorya, Gabala 3-1 Anderlecht, Zenit 2-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv, Ajax 2-0 Panathinaikos, Celta Vigo 1-1 Standard Liege, Fiorentina 2-3 PAOK, Gent 2-2 Braga, Be'er Sheva 3-2 Inter Milan, Krasnodar 1-1 Salzburg, FC Zurich 1-1 Villarreal, Slovan Liberec 3-0 Qarabag FK, Schalke 2-0 Nice, Shakhtar 4-0 Konyaspor, Sparta Prague 1-0 Southampton, Bucuresti 2-1 Osmanlispor, Roma 4-1 Victoria Plzen, Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Sassuolo, Austria Vienna 1-2 Astra, Dundalk 0-1 AZ, Genk 1-0 Rapid Vienna, Manchester United 4-0 Feyenoord, Olympiacos 1-1 Young Boys, St Etienne 0-0 Mainz 05