Europa League 2013 Results: Recapping Biggest Scores from Thursday's Action
It's only appropriate that on Thanksgiving in the United States, you gorge yourself with some football of the ball-kicking variety.
Enough has been said about how far down the totem pole the Europa League is from the Champions League and almost every other major domestic league in Europe.
That doesn't mean there aren't some talented players and exciting matches to be had. Plenty of players, managers and clubs as a whole have cut their teeth in the Europa League before turning that into domestic and continental success.
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There were 24 matches in all on Thursday, the results of which are listed below:
| Group A | ||
| Kuban Krasnodar | 4-0 | St. Gallen |
| Swansea | 0-1 | Valencia |
| Group B | ||
| PFC Ludogorets Razgrad | 2-0 | PSV Eindhoven |
| Chornomorets Odesa | 2-1 | Dinamo Zagreb |
| Group C | ||
| Elfsborg | 0-1 | Salzburg |
| Esbjerg | 2-1 | Standard Liege |
| Group D | ||
| Rubin Kazan | 1-1 | Maribor |
| Wigan | 1-2 | Zulte-Waregem |
| Group E | ||
| Dnipro | 4-1 | Pandurii |
| Paços de Ferreira | 0-0 | Fiorentina |
| Group F | ||
| APOEL Nicosia | 0-0 | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
| Bordeaux | 0-1 | Eintracht Frankfurt |
| Group G | ||
| Rapid Wien | 2-1 | Thun |
| Genk | 3-1 | Dynamo Kyiv |
| Group H | ||
| Sevilla | 1-1 | Estoril |
| Liberec | 1-2 | Freiburg |
| Group I | ||
| Rijeka | 0-0 | Vitoria de Guimaraes |
| Lyon | 1-0 | Real Betis |
| Group J | ||
| Legia Warszawa | 0-2 | Lazio |
| Trabzonspor | 4-2 | Apollon Limassol |
| Group K | ||
| Anzhi Makhachkala | 1-1 | FC Sheriff |
| Tromso | 0-2 | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Group L | ||
| Shakhter Karagandy | 0-2 | PAOK Thessaloniki FC |
| AZ Alkmaar | 2-0 | Maccabi Haifa |
Among all the matches, these three from Matchday 5 stand out the most.
Swansea 0, Valencia 1
The good news for Swansea is that they control their own destiny in the Europa League. They just need to get the right result in their final group stage match, and they're through to the next round. Unlike many other English clubs, the Swans are taking the Europa League seriously and see the tournament as a great trophy to add to the cabinet.
It's Valencia, though, who have secured the top spot in Group A by virtue of their 1-0 win in the Liberty Stadium on Thursday. The Spanish club went four points clear of Swansea, meaning no matter what, it's won the group.
It was the typical kind of performance you'd expect with Valencia. They countered with long balls and played a direct style.
Although Swansea won't be too disappointed with the result, Sky Sports reported that Wilfried Bony suffered a hamstring injury and will miss the next few weeks. Although Bony has underwhelmed this season, he's put some good performances together recently. Losing him now could be a big blow for the Swans.
PFC Ludogorets Razgrad 2, PSV Eindhoven 0
It's a sad state of affairs in Dutch football. After Ajax's huge 2-1 win against Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven was right there to maintain order and continue what has been the Eredivisie's poor play in Europe.
This is a club that finished second in the Dutch first division last season. Despite being eighth in the table this year, there's a lot of talent on Eindhoven, and Phillip Cocu selected a strong side against PFC Ludogorets Razgrad on Thursday.
But PSV suffered a 2-0 loss. Jeffrey Bruma was sent off in the 54th minute, which made it all the more difficult to equalize after Roman Bezjak's goal in the 38th minute. Bezjak added another in the 79th to put the match out of reach.
Although it came on the road, it's still a bad result for PSV Eindhoven, and the club now finds itself second in the table, level on points with FC Chornomorets Odesa. PSV will need a result in their final match if they want to advance.
Bordeaux 0, Eintracht Frankfurt 1
Bordeaux have been bad in Ligue 1 this season, and that poor form has spilled over into the Europa League. It's hard to believe that this is a club that won the league in 2008/09. Since then, it's been all downhill.
Francis Gillot even picked what was a fairly strong side, yet the French side still lost at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, who's 15th in the Bundesliga table and flirting with relegation.
This match was a classic case of one club wasting its opportunities and the other club making the most of them. Bordeaux had six shots on target, failing to score on any of them. Eintracht had just two shots on target but made one of them count in a big way.
With this result, Eintracht have won Group F, while Bordeaux are mathematically eliminated from advancing to the knockout stages.
