Europa League : Udinese and the Celtic win, the Atlético lose

Mixed fortunes for Stade Rennes’ future European opponents, this week-end in their respective domestic leagues.

For his first Serie A game of the season, the Udinese won on the road on Lecce’s ground, seventeenth of the last league season. A win acquired early in the game, thanks to two goals scored by Serbian Dušan Basta (2’) and by Antonio Di Natale, the best goal scorer in the last two league seasons (16’). This success puts the Udinese amongst the leading teams on the table, after the strike that affected the beginning of the season in Italy.

- The team against Lecce : Handanovic - Ekstrand, Danilo, Domizzi - Basta, Pinzi, Badu, Asamoah, Pasquale (Neuton 89’) - Torje (Abdi 68’), Di Natale (Barreto 77’).

Meanwhile, the Celtic Glasgow also won easily, by beating Motherwell at Celtic Park (4-0). The Bhoys from Celtic made the difference by scoring twice in each half. Forrest opened the score at the 9th minute, before Welshman Joe Ledley extended the lead at the 33rd. In the second half, a goal by Korean Ki Sung-yeung (67’) and a second goal by Forrest (74’) doubled the home team’s advantage.
Despite this large victory, the Celtic remains second in the league behind the Rangers, after they conceded a defeat to Saint-Johnstone earlier this season.

- The team against Motherwell : Forster - Matthews, Wilson, Mulgrew, El Kaddouri - Forrest, Ki, Kayal (Wanyama, 82’), Ledley (Commons, 71’) - Hooper, Stokes (Bangura, 69’).

Finally, the only opponent of Stade Rennes to have lost this week-end is the Atletico Madrid, beaten on the ground of FC Valence (0-1), through a goal by Soldado (52’). The defeat was conceded as the Colchoneros’ manager Unai Emery had decided to leave his recruits Diego and Arda Turan on the bench at kick-off. Entered late in the game, the two players brought dynamism to the Atletico’s attack, but they couldn’t equalise.
After a draw against Osasuna (0-0) in the first game week, the Atlético is therefore still waiting for its first win of the season in the league. The Madrid team is now in fourteenth position in the Liga, with only one point from two games.

-  The team against Valence : Courtois - Silvio, Miranda, Dominguez, Filipe Luis - Tiago (Diego, 64’), Suarez (Juanfran, 76’), Gabi - Falcao, Reyes, Adrian Lopez (Turan, 59’)