European football: TNS battle before Fiorentina defeat, Hearts snatch late win

The New Saints put up impressive resistance before falling to a 2-0 defeat against Fiorentina on a historic night in Italy. TNS are the first Welsh league club to progress past the qualifying rounds of a Uefa competition, and their first Conference League group match threw up a daunting trip to Florence.

Fiorentina were runners-up for the past two seasons but it took them 65 minutes to find a way through the TNS defence, with Yacine Adli netting before a quick second from the former Everton striker Moise Kean.

Connor Roberts would have expected to be a busy man in the TNS net and he produced a fine fingertip save to deny Christian Kouamé in the 10th minute. Roberts then kept out a Lucas Beltrán shot at the near post and the visitors were grateful to the woodwork before half-time when Rolando Mandragora’s effort struck a post.

Fiorentina dominated possession and Roberts was finally beaten 20 minutes into the second half, with Adli benefiting from a kind ricochet on the edge of the box after a run down the left from Jonathan Ikoné before finding the bottom corner. The game was put beyond TNS four minutes later and again there was a touch of fortune as Matías Moreno’s strike took a big deflection and landed at the feet of Kean, who tapped in at the second attempt after Roberts had initially denied him.

TNS’s only real scoring chance came in the 75th minute when Declan McManus almost turned in Joshua Daniels’s ball into the box, while at the other end Roberts kept the deficit to two with further saves from Kean and Amir Richardson. The Cymru Premier side’s next European outing comes at home later this month against Astana.

In was a similarly historic night for Larne, who made history in the Conference League as the first Irish Premiership team to play in a European group stage. But their big night also fell flat as they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 away at Norwegian side Molde.

There was Scottish success in the competition, however, as the substitute Yan Dhanda scored a last-gasp winner for managerless Hearts to claim their first victory of the season against Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan.

The Edinburgh side had failed to win any of their last 10 matches this term and looked like they could be set for another frustrating night when Stephen Alfred put the Belarusian champions ahead in the 20th minute. But Hearts equalised in the 37th minute with an own goal from Sergey Politevich before Dhanda popped up with a 94th-minute header.

In the Europa League, Lazio, Anderlecht and Steaua Bucharest maintained their 100% records in the competition. Lazio trounced French side Nice 4-1; Pedro opened the scoring and Valentín Castellanos grabbed two either side of Jeremie Boga’s effort for Nice before Mattia Zaccagni netted a penalty.

Anderlecht also have two wins thanks to an impressive 2-1 victory away at Real Sociedad. Pablo Marin gave the hosts an early lead but Luis Vázquez levelled with 28 minutes gone and Théo Leoni scored what proved to be the winner before half-time. Steaua Bucharest, meanwhile, held on for a 1-0 win over PAOK, Daniel Birligea scoring the only goal in first-half stoppage time, despite Darius Olaru’s 55th-minute red card.

Ajax were also reduced to 10 men as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Slavia Prague.
Branco van den Boomen put the Dutch side ahead from the penalty spot but Tomas Chory levelled midway through the second half before Youri Baas was sent off with 15 minutes left.

Iñaki Williams and Oihan Sancet scored in the final 20 minutes as Athletic Club saw off AZ Alkmaar 2-0. José Mourinho’s Fenerbahce fought back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Twente in the Netherlands, Dusan Tadic cancelling out Michel Vlap’s opener. Mourinho’s former club Roma suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Elfsborg, Michael Baidoo scoring a penalty.

Adam Hlozek scored both goals as Hoffenheim defeated Dynamo Kyiv 2-0, while Conference League holders Olympiakos also secured their first win, comfortably beating Braga 3-0. Eintracht Frankfurt capitalised on a good start to claim a 3-1 away win over Besiktas while, in other matches, Galatasaray drew 2-2 with Rigas, Midtjylland beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0, Malmö saw off Qarabag 2-1 and there were goalless draws between Union Saint-Gilloise and Bodø/Glimt and Viktoria Plzen and Ludogorets.