Bodo/Glimt, AZ Alkmaar claim wins in the revamped Europa League

Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt and Dutch side AZ Alkmaar became the first teams to claim victories in the revamped Europa League on Wednesday.

Jens Petter Hauge’s two goals guided 10-man Bodo/Glimt from a goal down to a 3-2 win over Porto while Troy Parrott netted the winner from the penalty spot for Alkmaar to beat Sweden’s Elfsborg 3-2.

Porto, a two-time champion in Europe’s second-tier league, got an early goal from Samu. Kasper Høgh’s equalized and Hauge netted twice for a 3-1 lead. Porto reduce the deficit to one in the final minute through substitute Deniz Gül.

Alkmaar answered Timothy Ouma’s opener with two goals from Ruben van Bommel on both sides of the interval. Simon Hedlund made it 2-2 before Parrott’s late penalty.

Like the lucrative Champions League, the second-tier European competition has a new format and 36 teams instead of 32. It features a league system in which each team plays eight games against different opponents through January, replacing the old group stage.

Manchester United kicks off its Europa League campaign at Old Trafford against the Dutch club Twente later Wednesday.

Ahead of a late game between Dynamo Kyiv and Lazio, a group of about 60 Lazio fans were stopped by German authorities in Hamburg after attempting to avoid a police escort and were found to be carrying knives, clubs and other weapons. Fans who were held overnight were banned from attending Wednesday’s game but there were no arrests.

Dynamo plays its home Europa League games in Hamburg because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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