Europa Conference League: Matchday One

By Yossi Medina and Eden Roitfarb

The Europa Conference League group stage has finally begun, and here are the best moments from the first matchday.

All Matchday 1 Europa Conference League results#UECL
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) September 8, 2022

The Hammers finally break their Romanian losing streak

West Ham United have a long history of being beaten by Romanian clubs. With the memory fresh in their head of being knocked out twice by Astra Giurgiu, they faced FCSB at home.

At first, it looked like history was repeating itself, with the Romanians scoring first, but that wasn’t enough. The Hammers scored three goals in the second half to kick off the game with an important win.

Second-half goals from Bowen, Emerson and Antonio give West Ham the win against FCSB#UECL pic.twitter.com/U62TZYmjID
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) September 8, 2022

The Battle of Cologne

There was a lot of anticipation ahead of the Nice v Koln matchup - two high quality teams, from two of the best continents on the continent, facing off on a Thursday night.

But things got a little too high-stakes in the stadium - the game was on the verge of postponement due to crowd trouble.

Forty minutes later than scheduled, the game finished in a 1-1 draw. But unfortunately, it will be remembered more for the clashes between the fans than the football.

Crazy situation in the stands between Nice (France) & FC Koln (Germany) fans that caused a Conference League match to be delayed due to flares being thrown between both fan sections.

One fan even fell from the upper deck. @StoolFootball pic.twitter.com/y7nAk2VwXu
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 8, 2022

Villarreal saved from defeat

Unai Emery is a huge fan of playing in the Europa League but, after failing to qualify this season, he made his Conference League debut with Villarreal this season.

The Spaniard was aiming for a win, but it wasn’t quite so straightforward.

Villarreal hosted a Lech Poznan side who, within two minutes, had scored. As well as opening the scoring in this game, Michal Skoras officially got the first goal of the group stage.

Villarreal took the lead back with three goals, before the Polish side drew back level with two goals. With just one minute of regular time remaining, Francis Coquelin scored for the Spaniards, rounding off a tremendous 4-3 win.

𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍 ⌚

⚽ @FCoquelin_off ⚽#UECL pic.twitter.com/stBXVgGHoG
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) September 8, 2022

A Latvian surprise

On paper, the Rigas FS vs Fiorentina clash in Italy was probably one of the most predictable games of the lot. A tournament favourite hosting a Latvian side only founded 11 years ago - piece of cake, right?

Nothing is easy in the Conference League.

RFS came to Florence and held the hosts to an amazing 1-1 draw, going behind and then levelling halfway through the second half through Andrew Ilic.

The Viola were left frustrated by goalkeeper Pavels Steinbors, who made some great saves to deny the hosts.

Just five days ago, Juventus produced the exact same scoreline in the same stadium, and now RFS can say they’ve done the same.

Andrej Ilić rescues a point for RFK after Antonín Barák had given Fiorentina the lead#UECL pic.twitter.com/MWg0oZ5qr7
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) September 8, 2022

Ties for the minnows’ debuts

Three nations made their group stage debut tonight, and all ended with draws.

FC Ballkani, the first club from Kosovo, drew 1-1 with CFR Cluj, Lithuania’s Zalgiris drew 0-0 with Slovan Bratislava, and FC Vaduz, the Liechtenstein side that play in the Swiss second division, drew against Apollon 0-0.

This is the reason we love the Europa Conference League.

Edited by Alex Smith

Photo by Steve Bardens – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)