Newcastle United defender Alex Murphy made a dream start to his loan at German side Kaiserslautern, setting up a 120th-minute winner in a 1-0 victory over local rivals Waldhof Mannheim in the first round of the DFB Pokal. However, the match was overshadowed by serious crowd trouble.
Violent Scenes at Carl-Benz-Stadion
Murphy came off the bench as a left-wing-back and made a marauding run forward before cutting the ball across for team-mate Ibrahim Kanate, who rifled home the winner. But the game threatened to be abandoned, with German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine reporting 85 fans and 35 police officers were injured in shameful scenes.
The Carl-Benz-Stadion saw a pitch invasion by masked Mannheim supporters, Kaiserslautern fans firing firecrackers into the stands, and Waldhof supporters launching rockets onto the pitch that narrowly missed players, referees, and club staff. Murphy joined the 2. Bundesliga side earlier this month and will hope for a calmer environment this weekend when Kaiserslautern travel to St Pauli in their third league match of the season.
Other Newcastle Loanee Updates
It was also a dream debut for Anthony Munda at Swindon, as he capped his first start by teeing up Aaron Drinan for the opening goal in a 2-1 win over Cheltenham Town in League Two. Antonio Cordero nabbed his first goal of the season as Cadiz drew 2-2 with Eldense in Spain's Segunda Division. The winger joined Newcastle from Malaga last summer.
Odysseas Vlachodimos helped Sevilla kick off their La Liga season with a second successive win, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3-1 victory over Athletic Club. Harrison Ashby came off the bench for Luton Town in their 2-2 draw with Notts County in League One, making his third appearance of the season.
