UEFA Europa League preview: What to look out for on Matchday 2

Manchester United are in Portugal and Tottenham Hotspur have a first trip to Hungary, while Glasgow beckons for Lyon on Matchday 2 of the league phase of the UEFA Europa League.

All kick-off times 21:00 CET unless stated

Thursday 3 October
RFS vs Galatasaray (18:45)
Ferencváros vs Tottenham Hotspur (18:45)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Midtjylland (18:45)
Olympiacos vs Braga (18:45)
Qarabağ vs Malmö (18:45)
Real Sociedad vs Anderlecht (18:45)
Lazio vs Nice (18:45)
Slavia Praha vs Ajax (18:45)
Hoffenheim vs Dynamo Kyiv (18:45)
Athletic Club vs AZ Alkmaar
Beşiktaş vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Porto vs Manchester United
Twente vs Fenerbahçe
Viktoria Plzeň vs Ludogorets
Elfsborg vs Roma
PAOK vs FCSB
Union SG vs Bodø/Glimt
Rangers vs Lyon

Standout fixtures

Porto vs Manchester United

Porto's Samu scored the first goal of the new league phase, but it was all downhill after they took a seventh-minute lead at Bodø/Glimt, the Norwegian champions rallying to win 3-2. "If we don't give it our all, we won’t win," concluded defender Nehuen Pérez. "We have seven games to go and we have the ambition to have a good run in the Europa League."

This will be Porto's ninth meeting with United (their record in the previous eight: W2 D3 L3), who are also smarting after letting a 1-0 lead slip in their opener to draw 1-1 against coach Erik ten Hag's old side, Twente. "We didn't lose but it feels like a loss and that's something, at home against Twente, that can't happen," said goalscorer Christian Eriksen.

Did you know?
United's heaviest continental defeat of all time came in Portugal: 5-0 at Sporting CP in the 1963/64 Cup Winners' Cup, but they also lost 4-0 at Porto in the same competition in 1977.

Athletic Club vs AZ Alkmaar

This will be the first 2024/25 Europa League game at San Mamés and there will be at least four more to come: Athletic Club's remaining league phase fixtures plus the final on 21 May next year. Ander Herrera could not decide how good a result Athletic's 1-1 draw at Roma on Matchday 1 was, as he told UEFA.com: "In this kind of tournament, a point is a point. You never know if they're going to taste like three when we look back in a few weeks."

Taking three points from AZ Alkmaar might make that draw feel a little bit more precious, though that will be no small task: the Dutch side have made a positive start to the season and newly arrived Irish striker Troy Parrott has hit the ground running, scoring their winner in a tight encounter with Elfsborg on Matchday 1.

Did you know?
The teams met in the 2015/16 group stage; AZ won 2-1 at home then earned a 2-2 draw in Spain.

Ferencváros vs Tottenham Hotspur

"We stuck to our principles and tried to play our football," said Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou after his side's opening-night win against Qarabağ. "I'm really pleased with the effort the boys put in." Given that his team had a player sent off inside ten minutes, a 3-0 success was quite a coup for the Londoners, and experience of playing under pressure may serve them well in Budapest.

Ferencváros's London-born Dutch coach Pascal Jansen was left feeling short-changed after defensive errors led to his side kicking off with a 2-1 defeat at Anderlecht. "We have to play matches like this in order to learn to perform well at this level," said the former AZ boss. "The standard we have reached is not enough." Will they raise their game for the arrival of Premier League opponents?

Did you know?
Fradi are unbeaten in three European home games this season (W1 D2), while this is Spurs' first visit to Hungary for a competitive fixture.

Rangers vs Lyon

Rangers scored in the first minute as they kicked off their league phase with a 2-0 win at Malmö (who they had failed to defeat in four previous meetings). It was a positive omen for coach Philippe Clement. "We are creating a new team," said the Belgian. "We had 16 players going out of the club [in the summer], 11 new players [coming in], so we are just starting to build a new squad."

Meanwhile, experience told for Lyon as they built on a quiet first-half showing against last season's Conference League winners Olympiacos to earn a 2-0 success of their own. "When you play European football, it's always important to try and get three points," said midfielder Nemanja Matić. Manager Pierre Sage's side can take courage from the fact that Lyon have won both their previous games at Ibrox: 3-0 in 2007 and 2-0 in 2021.

Did you know?
Captain James Tavernier needs just one more goal to match Rangers great Ally McCoist's tally of 21 European strikes; McCoist is second in the club's all-time rankings behind 29-goal Alfredo Morelos.

Plus

• Ajax were the biggest winners on Matchday 1, defeating Beşiktaş 4-0, but have a tough task on Matchday 2 as they head to Slavia Praha: they lost their only previous away game against the Czech side 2-1 in 2007.
• Bodø/Glimt have been Thursday night stars in recent seasons in the Conference League and Europa League and starred again on Matchday 1 as they came from behind to defeat Porto. Matchday 2 takes the Norwegian champions to Brussels to face Union SG.
• Six players are level on two goals at the top of the scorers rankings going into Matchday 2: Braga's Bruma, Lazio's Boulaye Dia, Ajax's Mika Godts, Bodø/Glimt's Jens Petter Hauge, FCSB's Darius Olaru and AZ's Ruben van Bommel (the son of Netherlands great Mark van Bommel).