Former national player Mario Gotze made a ceremonial bid for PSV Eindhoven – and he still hasn’t won. For Olympique Lyonnais newcomer Jerome Boateng and former Bayern coach Niko Kovac in Monaco, he started the Europa League season with three points in the opening match.
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29-year-old Gotze gave it all in PSV Eindhoven’s home game against Real Sociedad San Sebastian – scoring 2:2 (1:2) on Thursday for the Dutch runner-up (min. 31). The former world champion prepared Cody Jako’s goal (54). But two former Eredivisie pros who met the Spaniards: Adnan Januzaj (33) and Alexander Isak (39) made sure that the Dutch first club around German coach Roger Schmidt did not start with the full points.
Former Munich Boateng was 2-0 up (1-0) with Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers under coach Steven Gerrard for the first time since joining the starting line-up at Olympique Lyonnais from France. Lyon coach Peter Boss replaced the 33-year-old after 65 minutes.
Monaco also had a good start to the new European Cup season with coach Niko Kovac. The Ligue 1 club won 1-0 (0-0) at Sturm Graz. Goalkeeper Alexander Nubel, on loan from Bayern Munich, was in the starting line-up, as were full-back Ismael Jacobs and international striker Kevin Volland, who was substituted after 61 minutes without a goal. For Jacobs, it was already over in the first half.