Europa League

LONDON — Dele Alli and Gareth Bale staked their claims for places in Tottenham Hotspur's first team with superbly-taken goals in a 4-0 victory over Austrian club Wolfsberg in the Europa League last 32 second leg on Wednesday.

Alli has fallen down the pecking order under manager Jose Mourinho, not starting a Premier League game since the opening day of the season, but was clearly in the mood to impress.

The midfielder produced a sensational overhead kick in the 10th minute to give his side the lead on the night, after they won the first leg 4-1 in Budapest.

Thursday’s Europa League Round of 32 first leg between Lille and Ajax featured a heavy dose of CONCACAF as the USMNT’s Timothy Weah and Canada’s Jonathan David started for the French side while Mexico’s Edson Álvarez went the full 90 for the Dutch team in their dramatic 2-1 win at Stade Pierre Mauroy.

BUDAPEST - Gareth Bale scored one goal and created another as Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a 4-1 win in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 clash with Austrian side Wolfsberg on Thursday.

The Welshman, whose starts have mainly been limited to the Europa League since returning to Spurs on loan from Real Madrid in October, set up Son Heung-min for his side's opener.

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur had Europa League last-32 games moved to different venues on Friday after COVID-19 regulations made travelling to and from their opponents' countries impossible to manage.

Both legs of Arsenal's tie against Benfica have been moved to neutral venues due to travel restrictions in the United Kingdom with respect to arrivals from Portugal.

The first leg, which was due to be played at the Estadio Da Luz on Feb. 18, has been moved to Rome while the second leg will be played in Athens at Olympiakos Piraeus' ground a week later.

AMSTERDAM — Ajax Amsterdam will try everything possible to have record signing Sebastien Haller available for the Europa League knockout rounds after failing to register the Ivory Coast international, coach Erik ten Hag said on Thursday.

But he conceded an administrative error will likely cost the club a vital player in their bid to win the trophy, blaming a computer glitch for leaving the 26-year-old French-born striker off the additions to the squad for the rest of the competition.

Fenerbahçe will sign German midfielder Mesut Özil from Arsenal for three and a half years for an undisclosed fee, Turkey's private Demirören news agency and other Turkish media reported on Wednesday.

While there was no immediate comment on the reports from Fenerbahçe, broadcaster A Spor said Özil and the club had agreed on the transfer in principle and that the 32-year-old would join the former Turkish champions later in January.