SPURS HELD 2-2; ROMA WIN IN NEW EUROPA LEAGUE

RENNES: Substitute PierreEmile Hojbjerg’s equaliser allowed Tottenham Hotspur to come away with a 2-2 draw from their trip to France to play Rennes in the new Europa Conference League on Thursday.

Loic Bade’s own goal had given Spurs the lead in Brittany but Flavien Tait equalised and Gaetan Laborde put Rennes ahead in the 72nd minute.

That lead was swiftly cancelled out by Hojbjerg and in the circumstances it is a good result for Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tottenham after their 3-0 drubbing at Crystal Palace last weekend.

Elsewhere, Jose Mourinho’s Roma beat CSKA Sofia 5-1. The new third-tier European tournament could allow Mourinho to complete a career treble after previously winning the Champions League and Europa League.

Roma went a goal down to Bulgarian club CSKA when Irish midfielder Graham Carey scored in the 10th minute but hit back strongly with two goals from Lorenzo Pellegrini and one from Stephan El Sharaawy to take control of the game.

Ake says father died minutes after goal MANCHESTER: Manchester City defender Nathan Ake said his father died a few minutes after he scored in Wednesday’s 6-3 Champions League victory over RB Leipzig.

Ake, 26, opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 16th minute.”Yesterday after a difficult time I scored my first Champions League goal, and only a few minutes after he passed away peacefully with my mum and my brother by his side,” Ake wrote on Instagram.