Football: Eriksen scores first Inter goal in Europa League, Ajax lose at Getafe

ZURICH (REUTERS) – Inter Milan midfielder Christian Eriksen scored his first goal for the club since last month’s move from Tottenham Hotspur to set up a 2-0 win at Ludogorets Razgrad in the Europa League on Thursday (Feb 20).

Manchester United were held 1-1 at Club Brugge and Getafe pulled off a surprise 2-0 home win over last year’s Champions League semi-finalists Ajax in other round-of-32, first-leg ties.

Inter were frustrated by more than an hour by their Bulgarian opponents until Eriksen fired a low shot into the net from just outside the penalty area in the 71st minute.

Romelu Lukaku sealed the win with a stoppage-time penalty, the Belgian striker’s 22nd goal of the season, after Anicet Andrianantenaina was judged to have handled following a VAR review.

United were quickly in trouble in Belgium when Emmanuel Dennis lobbed the ball over Sergio Romero to give Brugge a 15th- minute lead, but Anthony Martial levelled in the 36th minute when he raced through to place a shot past Simon Mignolet.

United, with new midfield signing Bruno Fernandes on the bench, struggled to create many chances, although conditions were difficult with heavy rain and a strong wind.

Brazilian pair Deyverson and Kenedy scored in each half for Getafe against Ajax. Deyverson finished off a well-worked free kick to celebrate his European debut for the La Liga club with a goal after 38 minutes and Kenedy broke clear to add a second in the last minute.

In other matches, Daichi Kamada scored a hat-trick to help Eintracht Frankfurt to a 4-1 win over coach Adi Huetter’s former club RB Salzburg. Viktor Kovalenko scored the winner as Shakhtar Donetsk beat Benfica 2-1 and Sporting defeated Istanbul Basaksehir 3-1.

Youssef En-Nesyri equalised as Sevilla rescued a 1-1 draw at Cluj after Ciprian Deac had given the Romanians the lead with a penalty.