Stuart Kavanagh
- Oct 1, 2021
- 3 min read

Europa League Matchday 2 Results

Updated: Oct 14, 2021

Fan Violence At Marseille/Galatasaray Clash, Celtic Go Down 4-0 At Celtic Park

Matchday two has been run and done in the second-tier UEFA club competition. It was a bad night for Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers. The bad early season results continued for Leicester City also.

On the other side of the coin, West Ham continued their terrific start to their European campaign, and there were goals galore at the San Paolo as Spartak Moscow got a famous victory over the Italian side Napoli. Unfortunately, however, the biggest news was from France as the match between Marseille and Galatassary was marred by fan violence.

Crowd Trouble at the Stade Velodrome

The atmosphere was palpable inside the Stade Velodrome before kick-off in the match between Marseille and Galatasaray. You could cut the tension with a knife before fans even filed into the stadium as fans from both sides were captured on social media lighting flares and singing right outside the stadium.

The tension escalated into something more tangible right before halftime when the sound of firecrackers being let off reverberated around the stadium. It rapidly descended into objects being thrown at rival fans and pockets of violence in the stands. This is despite beefed-up security for the fixture and rival fans having extended space between each other.

Incredibly, this caused the referee to halt proceedings for ten minutes as police tried to get on top of the situation. Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim and both club captains tried to calm their respective fan bases. The match was eventually restarted, but the fan's disorder did not stop, as it could be audibly heard continuing on the telecast.

The match petered out to a 0-0 draw, but the big story here is the crowd trouble involving Marseille once again. Their fans have been involved with several incidents in Ligue 1 over the last 12 months. This includes a fixture that has to be replayed against Nice due to serious violence causing the game to be suspended. It seems the pressure will be on UEFA to discipline the club in some way, shape, or form.

Ange Postecoglu's Nightmare Start In Scotland Continues

Aussie gaffer Ange Postecoglu and his Celtic side suffered another humiliating reality check in their match-up against Bayer Leverkusen. The fans at Celtic Park were furious when the home side was defeated 4-0 by the German team. It was another defeat in a horror run that has seen the former Scottish giants win just two of their last 8 fixtures.

Celtic looked dangerous but seriously suffered from profligacy in front of goal. Their German opponents were quite the opposite. Leverkusen's attack was ruthless when going forwards and buried every big chance they created.

The home fans left the stadium stunned and the backlash online has already begun as some fans call for the stacking of the Australian. Speaking post-match Postecoglu had this to say:

"I think we created enough opportunities tonight to cause our own damage and we didn't. It shouldn't have been a 4-0 game. We fell away at the end through lack of discipline and that is unacceptable."

“We had some unbelievable opportunities, they are a good side with some quality players and they took their opportunities but we helped them as well by making some mistakes and gave them the advantage.”

In other news, there were mixed results for the English sides in the competition with West Ham keeping their 100% record intact with a 2-0 victory over Rapid Wien of Austria in London. Leicester City's trip to Poland wasn't nearly as fruitful as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Legia Warsaw to remain winless in the Europa League after two matches.