Roma secured a significant away victory over Nice, marking a strong start to their Europa League journey. The match saw defenders Evan Ndicka and Gianluca Mancini score within three minutes of each other
early in the second half at Allianz Riviera. Despite conceding a penalty to Terem Moffi with 13 minutes left, Roma held firm for a well-earned win in their opening game of the 2025-26 season.
Dinamo Zagreb also enjoyed success, defeating Fenerbahce in another engaging encounter. Dion Beljo scored twice, once in each half, surrounding an effort by Sebastian Szymanski for the Turkish team. Mounsef Bakrar sealed the win with a goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time, denying Domenico Tedesco's side any positive start to their campaign.
Feyenoord faced disappointment on their travels, losing 1-0 to Sporting Braga after Fran Navarro netted the decisive goal in the 79th minute. The match was otherwise uneventful, leaving Feyenoord without points from this away fixture. Meanwhile, Freiburg continued the trend of home victories by defeating Basel 2-1 at Europa-Park Stadion. Patrick Osterhage and Maximilian Eggestein scored for Freiburg before Philip Otele's late strike hinted at a comeback that never materialised.
Nice's struggles in the Europa League persist as they have now gone 13 games without a win in this competition. This streak is their longest since data collection began in the 2005-06 season. Roma's triumph was not unexpected given their strong record against French teams in European competitions. They have lost only two out of 12 such encounters (W6 D3), winning five of their last six matches since March 2007.
Dinamo Zagreb's performance against Fenerbahce was commendable as they have lost just two of their last 20 group-stage matches in the Europa League (W13 D5). During this period, they managed to keep ten clean sheets. Their victory was supported by accumulating an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.45 compared to Fenerbahce's lowly 0.17.
The results from these matches highlight contrasting fortunes for different teams as they navigate through the group stages of the Europa League. While some teams like Roma and Dinamo Zagreb are off to promising starts, others like Nice and Feyenoord face challenges ahead.
