Europa League 2009-10: First Qualifying Round, First Leg Results

A lot of lesser-known teams are involved at this stage but the big upset of the day was SPL side Motherwell losing at home to Welsh opponents Llanelli. 42-year-old player-manager Andy Legg, who played for both Swansea City FC and Cardiff City AFC, called their 1-0 win at Motherwell “the best result that Llanelli have ever had”. I was not able to find highlights of the match but in looking at the minute-by-minute report, Motherwell seemed to dominate possession and there is still a long haul for Llanelli if they are to win this round and earn a second qualifying round tie against Albania’s KS Flamurtari.

The one club in this group that I have been watching over the summer has been Rosenborg. They’ve been ripping up the Norwegian league and are still leading by 4 points with 1 game in hand. They helped themselves to a 3-0 advantage in the first leg and will host the second leg against Faroe Islands side NSÍ Runavík. They should advance comfortably.

One other notable score was Cypriot side Anorthosis, who took part in last season’s UEFA Champions League group stage, defeating Luxembourg’s UN Käerjéng 97 by a massive 5-0.

The complete first leg scores were:

Olimpi Rustavi (Georgia) 2-0 B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands)
Simurq Zaqatala (Azerbaijan) 0-1 Bnei Yehuda (Israel)
Dinaburg (Latvia) 2-1 Nomme Kalju (Estonia)
Banants (Armenia) 0-2 Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia/Herzegovina)
Sutjeska Niksic (Montenegro) 1-1 MTZ-RIPO (Belarus)
Lahti (Finland) 4-1 Dinamo Tirana (Albania)
Valletta (Malta) 3-0 Keflavik (Iceland)
Zimbru Chisinau (Moldova) 1-2 Okzhetpes (Kazakhstan)
Dinamo Minsk (Belarus) 2-1 Renova (FYR Macedonia)
Narva Trans (Estonia) 0-3 Rudar Velenje (Slovenia)
Szombathelyi Haladas (Hungary) 1-0 Irtysh (Kazakhstan)
Spartak Trnava (Slovakia) 2-1 Inter Baku (Azerbaijan)
Slaven Belupo (Croatia) 1-0 Birkirkara (Malta)
Grevenmacher (Luxembourg) 0-3 Veta (Lithuania)
Anorthosis (Cyprus) 5-0 Kaerjeng (Luxembourg)
Randers (Denmark) 4-0 Linfield (Northern Ireland)
NSI Runavik (Faroe Islands) 0-3 Rosenborg (Norway)
Sligo Rovers (Ireland) 1-2 Vllaznia (Albania)
Fram (Iceland) 2-1 The New Saints (Wales)
Buducnost (Montenegro) 0-2 Polonia Warsaw (Poland)
Lisburn Distillery (Northern Ireland) 1-5 Zestaponi (Georgia)
Helsingborg (Sweden) 3-1 MIKA (Armenia)
Motherwell (Scotland) 0-1 Llanelli (Wales)