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LONDON, Sept. 30 (Reuters) – West Ham United have taken two out of two Europa League victories after goals from Declan Rice and Said Benrahma secured a 2-0 home win over Rapid Vienna while Leicester City suffered a 1-0 defeat at Legia Warsaw on Thursday.
Italian league leaders Napoli suffered a shock 3-2 home defeat to Spartak Moscow and 1967 European Cup winners Celtic were humiliated 4-0 at home by Bayer Leverkusen.
Olympique de Marseille’s home game with Galatasaray, which ended in a 0-0 draw, was marred by crowd problems with play suspended for eight minutes in the first half after rival supporters started fireworks.
West Ham hit the woodwork twice before England midfielder Rice returned Michail Antonio’s cross in the 29th minute and Benrahma sealed the victory in stoppage time with a precise low shot.
The result puts the Hammers at the top of Group H with six points, three ahead of Dinamo Zagreb who beat Genk 3-0 away, helped by two goals from striker Bruno Petkovic.
Legia became the surprise leader of Group C with six points after Mahir Emreli’s goal sank Leicester.
Spartak, second with three points, retaliated after falling behind after 11 seconds when a botched error by goalkeeper Aleksandr Maksimenko allowed Eljif Elmas to tack Napoli in the lead.
The home side saw defender Mario Rui sent off in the 30th minute for a thoughtless tackle and Spartak turned things around with two goals from Quincy Promes and another from Mikhail Ignatov.
Victor Osimhen pulled one off for Napoli in stoppage time, too late to spare Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti his first loss in all competitions after taking over in May.
Leicester and Napoli each have one point in their first two games.
Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky made a series of superb saves against Celtic in Group G and the hosts were punished with a clinical finish on the other end.
Piero Hincapie put the visitors ahead in the 25th minute and Florian Wirtz doubled the lead with a neat finish before Lucas Alario’s penalty and Amine Adli completed the rout.
Real Betis also celebrated their second consecutive victory by beating Ferencvaros 3-1 in Budapest to stay tied with Leverkusen on six points.
Rangers ended a bad night for Scottish clubs as they lost 1-0 to Sparta Prague in Group A with Lyon retaining pole position after a brace from Karl Toko Ekambi helped them win a 3-0 victory over Brondby.
Marseille and Galatasaray both missed chances in a grumpy Group E game, and Lazio beat Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 thanks to first-half goals from Toma Basic and Spain defender Patric.
(Written by Zoran Milosavljevic; edited by Ed Osmond)
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