Roma and Dinamo start Europa League campaign with impressive wins
Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Basel and Nice were the unlucky losers in Wednesday's opening Europa League action.
Roma claimed an impressive away win over Nice to kick-start their Europa League campaign, while Dinamo Zagreb bettered Fenerbahce in another enticing clash on Wednesday.
Two defenders proved the difference for Roma, who struck twice in three minutes through Evan Ndicka and Gianluca Mancini to start the second half at the Allianz Riviera.
Gian Piero Gasperini's side did concede with 13 minutes remaining to substitute Terem Moffi's penalty, though held on for a hard-fought victory in their opening match of the 2025-26 competition.
Fenerbahce had no such fortune in another meeting between two sizeable European sides, with Dion Beljo on target in either half around Sebastian Szymanski's effort for the Turkish giants.
Mounsef Bakrar then made sure of victory in the fifth minute of stoppage time, ensuring there was no encouraging start for Domenico Tedesco's visitors.
Feyenoord suffered a similar fate on the road, losing 1-0 after Fran Navarro's 79th-minute winner in an otherwise uneventful clash away to Sporting Braga.
Freiburg continued the winning theme for home sides in another of Wednesday's matches, winning 2-1 at Europa-Park Stadion, where Basel may have felt unfortunate to not come away with at least a point.
Patrick Osterhage and Maximilian Eggestein found the net in either half for the Bundesliga side, before Philip Otele's 84th-minute strike promised a grandstand finish that never arrived.
Data Debrief: Not Nice
Nice have now failed to win in their last 13 games in the Europa League, their longest winless streak in the competition, since data collection began in the 2005-06 season.
The result may have come as no surprise, too, given Roma have now lost just two of their 12 games in European competition against French sides (W6 D3), winning five of their last six since March 2007 (L1).
In contrast to Nice, Dinamo have lost just two of their 20 Europa League group-stage games (W13 D5), keeping 10 clean sheets during that time.
Mario Kovacevic's side were good value for their win as well, accumulating 1.45 expected goals (xG) to Fenerbahce's meagre 0.17.
