Soccer Football - Europa League - Ferencvaros v Tottenham Hotspur - Groupama Arena, Budapest, Hungary - October 3, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Brennan Johnson celebrates scoring their second goal with Yves Bissouma REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Tottenham Hotspur claimed a 2-1 win at Ferencvaros in their Europa League group match on Thursday thanks to goals in each half from Pape Sarr and Brennan Johnson.
Senegalese midfielder Sarr opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, taking advantage of a loose ball to calmly slot a precise right-foot shot into the far corner.
Ferencvaros had a goal disallowed for offside shortly before Sarr's strike, with Barnabas Varga's header being ruled out by the linesman's flag.
In the second half, the hosts repeatedly went close to equalising on a rain-soaked pitch, but failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
Substitute Johnson doubled the lead for the English side four minutes from time with a left-foot strike from inside the box.
Ferencvaros grabbed a consolation goal in stoppage time through Varga, but it was not enough to deny Spurs victory in their first-ever match against Hungarian opponents.
Anderlecht won 2-1 at Real Sociedad who took an early lead through Pablo Marin before Luis Vazquez and Theo Leoni scored for the Belgian side to turn the game around.
The match was briefly halted in the first half as visiting fans hurled objects on to the pitch from the lower stand, resulting in the arrest of two Anderlecht supporters.
In Rome, Taty Castellanos, celebrating his 26th birthday, struck twice to lead Lazio to a convincing 4-1 home victory over Nice. Pedro Rodriguez and a penalty from Mattia Zaccagni completed the rout.
Ajax Amsterdam were held to a 1-1 draw by Slavia Prague in the Czech capital, with Branco van den Boomen scoring an early penalty for the Dutch team and Tomas Chory equalising in the second half for the hosts. Ajax's Youri Baas was sent off in the closing stages.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)
