MERSEYSIDE — Udinese produced a stirring comeback to beat Liverpool 3-2 away in the Europa League on Thursday, joining fellow Italian teams Inter Milan and Lazio in notching maiden group-stage victories in this season’s competition.Reporting from Reuters
Trailing 1-0 at halftime at Anfield, Udinese stunned the five-time European champions with a second-half fightback sparked by Antonio Di Natale’s well-taken equaliser and completed by Giovanni Pasquale’s drilled finish that proved to be the winner.
Anzhi Makhachkala is level on four points with Udinese at the top of Group A thanks to a 2-0 win over Young Boys, courtesy of a brace by veteran Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.
Inter scored all its goals in the first half in a 3-1 win at Neftci of Azerbaijan to leave Andrea Stramaccioni’s side level on four points in Group H with Rubin Kazan, which beat Partizan Belgrade 2-0.
Lazio heads Group J on four points following a 1-0 home win over Maribor of Slovenia, but Tottenham is languishing in third place after conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at struggling Panathinaikos.
The only dampener on the night for Serie A clubs was Napoli’s 3-0 loss at PSV Eindhoven that ceded top spot in Group F to Dnipro.
Elsewhere, Cristian Rodriguez grabbed an injury-time winner for Atletico Madrid in a 1-0 victory over Plzen, the defending champions’ second straight triumph in Group B. French club Lyon also left it late to beat Hapoel Kiry at Shmona 4-3 in a thrilling match in Israel, with Gueida Fofana scoring a stoppage-time winner.
However, there was no end to the woes of Athletic Bilbao, last season’s beaten finalist, which lost 3-1 to Sparta Prague to slump to the bottom of Group I.
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Bilbao is also in the relegation zone in the Spanish league.
