Liverpool stunned by Toulouse, Brighton ease to win at Ajax in Europa League

TOULOUSE (Agencies): Liverpool suffered a shock 3-2 loss at French side Toulouse in Europa League Group E on Thursday as Brighton & Hove Albion took a big step towards the knockout stages with a 2-0 win at Ajax Amsterdam. Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool still top the group standings with nine points, two ahead of Toulouse, despite being denied an equaliser in the last minute of added time by the VAR. Bottom side LASK earned their first points with a 3-1 home win over Union Saint Gilloise who remained third in the group. Liverpool started strongly and Joe Gomez’s header from a set piece struck the crossbar. The hosts broke the deadlock after 36 minutes when Aron Donnum intercepted the ball in midfield, broke into the box and scored with a deflected shot before Thjis Dallinga doubled the advantage in the 58th minute. Liverpool pulled one back in the 73th minute through an own goal from Cristian Casseres, but Frank Magri restored the hosts’ two-goal advantage three minutes later, slotting home a deflected cross from close range.

Luis Diaz, whose father had been released by kidnappers earlier on Thursday, started the match for Liverpool but was replaced by Diogo Jota nine minutes from time after making little impact. Jota gave the Premier League side hope when he dribbled into the box and placed the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Liverpool thought they had salvaged a draw when Jarell Quansah found the net in the seventh minute of stoppage time, but the VAR disallowed it due to a handball by Alexis Mac Allister earlier in the move. Brighton secured their second victory of the competition with a comfortable win at Ajax thanks to goals from Ansu Fati and Simon Adingra. Fati opened the scoring by calmly slotting the ball into the net after 15 minutes and Adingra doubled the lead in the 53rd minute from close range. Brighton moved closer to the knockout stages by taking top spot in Group B on seven points, two ahead of Olympique de Marseille who play AEK Athens later on Thursday. AS Roma suffered a shock 2-0 loss at Slavia Prague, slipping to second place in Group G, level on nine points with the Czech side who top the standings. Bayer Leverkusen earned a last-gasp 1-0 win at Qarabag in Group H to maintain their perfect start and secure their place in the knockout stages.

West Ham secure late win over Olympiakos, Marseille beat AEK: In London, West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta scored a late goal to earn his side a 1-0 home win over Olympiakos Piraeus as they retained top spot in Europa League Group A, while Olympique de Marseille won 2-0 at AEK Athens to remain first in Group B on Thursday. West Ham lost 2-1 away to the Greek side a fortnight ago but their win at the London Stadium put them level on nine points with second-placed Freiburg, who crushed bottom side Backa Topola 5-0. Olympiakos are third with four points. Paqueta broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute with a deft left-foot volley following a delightful James Ward-Prowse chip over the defence for his third goal in European competition this season, which was confirmed after a VAR review for offside. The West Ham fans then held their breath late on as the visitors nearly equalised when Mady Camara’s close-range header struck the post when he should have scored. Marseille secured a second victory with their win in Athens thanks to goals from Chancel Mbemba and Ismaila Sarr. Mbemba opened the scoring with a header from a corner after 25 minutes and Sarr struck three minutes into stoppage time. The Ligue 1 side have eight points, one ahead of European debutants Brighton & Hove Albion, who secured a 2-0 victory at Ajax Amsterdam on Thursday.