Man United suffers a surprise 1-1 defeat against Dutch club Twente in the revamped Europa League

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MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United’s latest setback came against FC Twente, coach Erik ten Hag’s former team, which played out a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Wednesday in the revamped Europa League.

Sam Lammers took advantage of a mistake by Christian Eriksen in the second half, ran off and scored the equalizer for the Dutch underdog.

Eriksen had put United ahead with a stunning first-half goal, but was caught in possession by Lammers, whose strike secured an unexpected point for the visitors.

Ten Hag had spoken before the game of his affection for the team he supported as a boy in the Netherlands and represented as a player, saying it was “not nice to have to hurt something you love” but it was the United fans who were hurting, even though Eriksen had seemingly put the home side on course for victory.

The Danish international put United ahead in the 35th minute with a direct shot into the top corner. The playmaker collected a loose ball just inside the box and kept his composure as he fired a powerful and precise shot past Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall.

With his fist clenched, he ran to the corner to celebrate in front of the home fans.

However, it was the Twente supporters who cheered the loudest after Lammers scored a goal in the 68th minute, beating Andre Onana at the near post.

Like the Champions League, the second-tier Europa League also has a new format and 36 teams instead of 32. It has a league system in which each team plays eight games against different opponents until January, replacing the old group phase.

Early victories

The Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt and the Dutch club AZ Alkmaar were the first teams to record a victory on Wednesday.

Jens Petter Hauge’s two goals led the ten-man Bodø/Glimt team from a goal down to a 3-2 victory over Porto, while Troy Parrott scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot for Alkmaar to beat the Swedish team 3-2.

Porto, two-time champions of Europe’s second division, scored an early goal through Samu. Kasper Høgh equalised and Hauge scored twice to make it 3-1. In the last minute, Porto was able to reduce the deficit to one goal through substitute Deniz Gül.

Alkmaar responded to Timothy Ouma’s opener with two goals from Ruben van Bommel either side of the break. Simon Hedlund made it 2-2 before Parrott converted a penalty in the closing stages.

Ahead of a late match between Dynamo Kyiv and Lazio, a group of around 60 Lazio fans were stopped by German authorities in Hamburg after attempting to evade a police escort. Knives, batons and other weapons were discovered. The fans, who were detained overnight, were banned from attending Wednesday’s match but no arrests were made.

Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dynamo plays its Europa League home games in Hamburg.

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Karel Janicek participated.

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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer