🖐️ things to look out for in Thursday's European action 🇪🇺 | OneFootball

After a thrilling round of Champions League action, Thursday brings us an intriguing slate of slightly more esoteric European football.

Here are five things to keep an eye on from this week’s Europa and Conference League fixtures.

Brotherly love

Thursday will be a special night in the MacAllister household, with brothers Alexis and Kevin facing off as Liverpool take on Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League.

Alexis didn’t start when Liverpool took on LASK in their first group fixture, but the World Cup winner has started every Premier League match for the Reds so far this season and quickly become an important player for Jürgen Klopp.

His older brother Kevin (who is not to be confused with Macaulay Culkin’s character in Home Alone) joined Union from Argentinos Juniors over the summer, and the centre-back has established himself as a mainstay in the Belgian outfit’s backline this season.

“Hopefully you don’t enjoy it, I want you to suffer,” joked Alexis during a video call set up between the brothers by Liverpool’s social media team this week.

Their father Carlos — a former Argentine international defender himself — will no doubt be cheering for both teams at Anfield this week.

José’s redemption song

“I won a cup and a half with Roma. I wasn’t able to win two cups in Rome but I won one and a half and I have another six months here.”

Those were José Mourinho’s words earlier this week, referring to the Conference League he lifted with Roma in 2022, and the Europa League final he feels his side deserved to win last season.

The Special One’s Giallorossi contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and there was some suggestion that he wouldn’t even last that long after the club made the worst start to the season of the Portuguese’s career.

But a 2-0 win over Frosinone at the weekend has eased the tension somewhat, and Roma will be hoping to build on their Europa League win over Sheriff Tiraspol when they welcome Servette to Stadio Olimpico this week.

Can José make it two-and-a-half cups for Roma this season? Time will tell.

Tricky tests for Premier League trio

Possibly the fixture of the week in the Europa League sees high-flying West Ham travelling to face Freiburg.

The Hammers’ last trip to Germany was a painful one when they were beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2022 Europa League semi-finals, but with last season’s Conference League triumph and a strong start to this campaign under their belts, they’ll be hoping to fare better this year.

Just above West Ham in the Premier League table currently are Brighton, who suffered a bruising 6-1 defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend and travel to face a Marseille side on Thursday who are now coached by Italy and Milan legend Gennaro Gattuso.

OM lost their first match under Gattuso 3-2 to Monaco at the weekend, but the players look up for a fight under their new boss and will take the game to Roberto De Zerbi’s wounded Seagulls.

And speaking of Aston Villa, they will be trying to bounce back from their Conference League defeat to Legia Warszawa on matchday one when they welcome HŠK Zrinjski Mostar to Villa Park, but it won’t be easy.

Zrinjski are the first Bosnian club ever to feature in a major UEFA competition group stage, and they came from 3-0 down at half-time to beat AZ Alkmaar 4-3 in the last round of action. Underestimate them at your peril, Unai Emery.

Fiorentina come up against a familiar face

There’s an interesting fixture coming our way from the Conference League, with Fiorentina taking on Ferencváros.

The Hungarian champions are coached by former Lazio and Inter midfielder Dejan Stanković, who took over last month having been unable to save Sampdoria from Serie A relegation last season.

Fradi have fared rather better on Stanković’s watch, winning all five of his matches in charge so far, including a 3-1 win over Čukarički in the Conference League a fortnight ago.

It was a 5-0 defeat to Fiorentina at the end of April which prompted Stanković to tender his Sampdoria resignation. The Serbian will be hoping for a more enjoyable visit to Stadio Artemio Franchi this time around.

Historic first wins incoming?

Many clubs are enjoying their first forays into European competition this season, and most of them will be hoping to get their first group stage victory this week.

In the Europa League, group stage debutants TSC Bačka Topola, Aris Limassol, Raków Czestochowa and Häcken all lost away from home on matchday one, and will all be trying to get some points on the board in front of their home fans this week.

It’s a similar story in the Conference League, where Iceland’s Breidablik and Faroe Islanders Kĺ Klaksvík will be hoping to mark the first ever European group stage fixtures held in their respective countries with three points.