PARIS — English Premier League club West Ham suffered a shock defeat by Romanian side Astra Giurgiu Thursday that saw it knocked out of the Europa League in a mirror image of last season’s campaign.
Slaven Bilic’s side had left the tie in the balance after a disappointing 1-1 away draw a week ago and that result came back to haunt them as Astra took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Filipe Teixeira.
West Ham was guilty of slack defending as Daniel Niculae found Teixeira free in the box with the striker rolling the ball past Darren Randolph.
That was enough to hand the Romanians a 2-1 victory on aggregate, mirroring Astra’s 4-3 win over the Hammers at the same stage of Europe’s second-tier club competition last season.
In other results, French side Saint-Etienne endured a torrid final 45 minutes at stade Geoffroy-Guichard after goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier was sent off on the stroke of half time for punching Beitar Jerusalem striker Itay Shechter.
The Israeli striker had collided with the French ‘keeper with his studs showing in a seemingly genuine attempt to play the ball and Les Verts’ Ruffier was appropriately sent off for his reaction.
Despite the red carding, Christophe Galtier’s side was never really under threat and saw out a 0-0 draw to progress to the group stages of the Europa League after winning 2-1 in Israel.
Italian side Sassuolo, which finished sixth in Serie A last year, qualified for the first time in its history for a European competition after a lackluster 1-1 draw against Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda. The Italians had done the bulk of the work last week, winning 3-0 at home.
Belgian side Anderlecht was another high profile team to progress to the next round after it despatched Salvia Prague 3-0 to complete a 6-0 aggregate win.
Greek side Panathinaikos also advanced to the competitions group stage after a 1-1 draw against Danish side Brondby. The Greeks had won the 1st leg 3-0 giving them an overall win of 4-1 on aggregate.
Turkish side Fenerbahce logically advanced to the group stages after outclassing Swiss outfit Grasshoppers. The Turks scored two second half goals through Fernandao and Miloslav Stoch to guarantee qualification.
United in tough group
Manchester United will come up against its former striker Robin van Persie after being drawn in a tough Europa League group Friday alongside Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk.
Southampton, the Premier League’s other representative, has been drawn alongside Inter Milan, Sparta Prague and Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
The top two teams from each of the 12 groups advance to the round of 32 where they will be joined by the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
The final will be played in Stockholm on May 24.
Groupings:
Group A: Manchester United, Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Zorya Luhansk.
Group B: Olympiakos Piraeus, Apoel Nicosia, Young Boys, Astana.
Group C: Anderlecht, St Etienne, Mainz, Qabala.
Group D: Zenit Saint Petersburg, AZ Alkmaar, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dundalk.
Group E: Viktoria Plzen, AS Roma, Austria Vienna, Astra Giurgiu.
Group F: Athletic Bilbao, Genk, Rapid Vienna, Sassulo.
Group G: Ajax Amsterdam, Standard Liege, Celta Vigo, Panathinaikos.
Group H: Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga, Gent, Konyaspor.
Group I: Schalke 04, Salzburg, Krasnodar, Nice.
Group J: Fiorentina, PAOK Slovan, Liberec, Qarabag.
Group K: Inter Milan, Sparta Prague, Southampton, Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Group L: Villarreal, Steaua Bucharest, Zurich, Osmanlispor. — Agencies
