AFCON 2025
Matchday one of the Europa League provided plenty of drama and decisive results across the continent on Thursday.
Aston Villa earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Bologna, with a well-taken strike from captain John McGinn in the 13th minute proving to be the difference.
Aston Villa have their first win of the season 🦁
John McGinn’s goal is enough for a 1-0 victory over Bologna in the Europa League 🕶️ pic.twitter.com/QBFwJFN4ab
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 25, 2025
The win was secured despite a missed second-half penalty by Ollie Watkins, which was saved by the heroic Łukasz Skorupski.
In Glasgow, Rangers suffered a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Genk. The match was an eventful affair, as Rangers’ Mohamed Diomande was sent off in the first half and a penalty from Genk was saved by Jack Butland. Former Celtic striker Hyeongyu Oh returned to Ibrox to haunt the home side, scoring the winner after the break to secure the points for the Belgian team.
Elsewhere, Panathinaikos put their domestic struggles behind them with a dominant 4-1 victory over Young Boys, highlighted by a hat-trick from Anass Zaroury. Veteran Olivier Giroud also made history by scoring Lille’s late winner against Brann, while Porto, Lyon, and Stuttgart all secured narrow 1-0 and 2-1 victories, respectively.
