Olympiakos v West Ham, Sparta Prague v Rangers: Europa League clockwatch – live

And we’re off across Europe…

For Rangers, Ben Davies will slot into the troublesome left-back role, with both Borna Barisic and Dujon Sterling missing through injury.

It’s a night when the club remembers a true club great, and great football man, Walter Smith.

Unai Emery has made four changes for Aston Villa. Clement Lenglet, Diego Carlos, Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey started in Holland. Ezri Konsa, Nicolo Zaniolo, Moussa Diaby and Pau Torres were named on the bench.

Football fans can be nice, number 2526262

Per Reuters: Atalanta fans making the journey from Bergamo to see their team play Austrian side Sturm Graz in the Europa League, made a stop in Maribor, Slovenia, not to visit the city’s famous castle but to surprise a former player on Thursday.

Ex-players can come in for many different forms of treatment from their former fans, but Josip Ilicic, who spent five years at Atalanta, is still very much in the hearts of the club’s supporters.

Ilicic left the club in August, 2022, his contract terminated by mutual agreement, after the player had struggled for some time with mental health issues.

The fans gave him an emotional send off before their home game with Torino on Sept. 1 2022, and over a year later it’s clear just how heartfelt that farewell was.

Ilicic joined his former club NK Maribor a month after leaving Atalanta, and the fans from Bergamo arrived at the club’s training ground on Thursday morning to surprise the 35-year-old Slovenian.

Two buses arrived, carrying 120 fans who had left Italy at midnight, and there were handshakes, hugs and chants for the beloved player, and plenty of photos taken with a visibly emotional and happy Ilicic.

The fans left him a present of the banner they had used on that farewell night in Bergamo last year, and Ilicic also confirmed he will be present at Atalanta’s game with Sturm Graz.

Sparta v Rangers teams

Sparta: Vindahl-Jensen, Vitik, Panak, Sorensen, Preciado, Laci, Kairinen, Rynes, Karabec, Kuchta, Birmancevic. Subs: Gomez, Olatunji, Pavelka, Sadilek, Mejdr, Pesek, Vorel, Vydra, Wiesner, Sevcik, Sejk, Surovcik.

Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Davies, Lundstram, Raskin, Cantwell, Lammers, Sima, Dessers. Subs: Jack, Scott Wright, McCrorie, Kieran Wright, King, Devine, Lyall, Fraser, McCausland, McKinnon, Danilo.

AZ v Aston Villa teams

AZ: Ryan, Sugawara, Bazoer, Penetra, Wolfe, Clasie, Dani de Wit, Mijnans, Sadiq, Pavlidis, van Brederode. Subs: Martins Indi, Tiago Dantas, Odgaard, Verhulst, Mihailovic, van Bommel, Owuso-Oduro, Poku, Goudmijn, Kasius, Goes.

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Diego Carlos, Lenglet, Digne, Bailey, Douglas Luiz, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Watkins. Subs: Konsa, Traore, Torres, Chambers, Diaby, Zaniolo, Duran, Olsen, Dendoncker, Marschall.

Olympiakos v West Ham teams

Olympiakos: Paschalakis, Rodinei, Porozo, Retsos, Ortega, Alexandropoulos, Camara, Hezze, Daniel Podence, El Kaabi, Fortounis. Subs: Gustavo Scarpa, El Arabi, Vrousai, Quini, Masouras, Joao Carvalho, Biel, Jovetic, Tzolakis, Solbakken, Papadoudis.

West Ham: Areola, Kehrer, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Emerson Palmieri, Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Fornals, Kudus, Ings, Benrahma. Subs: Johnson, Cresswell, Zouma, Antonio,
Lucas Paqueta, Cornet, Alvarez, Bowen, Aguerd, Mubama, Anang.

The European football marathon rolls on, and there’s action aplenty through the evening. Forgive our parochialism but let’s concentrate on the English clubs. West Ham, proud Europa Conference champions, travel to Olympiakos, and in Group C, Philippe Clement’s Rangers face Sparta Prague. That’s in the Europa League and in the Conference, free-scoring Aston Villa visit AZ Alkmaar.

Later this evening, as Will Unwin steps into my shoes, there’s the tie of the week in Brighton v Ajax, and Liverpool v Toulouse.

All that and the latest scores and reaction from around Europe. Join us.