Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™ LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

West Ham knocked out of Europa League in defeat to Astra

LONDON (Reuters) - West Ham United were knocked out of the Europa League in the third qualifying round on Thursday after a 2-1 defeat at Romanian side Astra Giurgiu.

West Ham knocked out of Europa League in defeat to Astra

(Reuters)

Astra, who drew the first leg 2-2 in London having trailed by two goals, completed a 4-3 aggregate victory thanks to a double strike in four first-half minutes from their captain Constantin Budescu.

Slaven Bilic's West Ham, who had qualified for the competition through the Fair Play League, had gone 1-0 up when debutant Manuel Lanzini scored after only three minutes.

But they fielded an inexperienced team, having made 11 changes to the side from the first leg, and were picked off when Budescu struck in the 32nd and 36th minutes to end West Ham's first European campaign since the 2006-07 season.

Premier League Southampton cruised through to the playoff stage 5-0 on aggregate after a 2-0 win at Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem.

(Reporting by Toby Davis, editing by Pritha Sarkar)


1 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Watch now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world