MADRID -- Wayne Rooney finally made a difference for Manchester United this season, setting up Zlatan Ibrahimovics goal two minutes after being summoned off the bench to help them beat Ukraines Zorya Luhansk 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.Inter Milan fell 3-1 at Sparta Prague to lose its second in a row in the European competition, while Mario Balotelli scored again but couldnt prevent Nice from losing at Russian side Krasnodar 5-2. The Italian striker was substituted at halftime with an apparent knee injury.There was mixed reaction at Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho sent in the much-criticized Rooney in the 67th minute, but his misfired shot bounced to the far post, where Ibrahimovic nodded in.Rooney was in good position inside the area after a cross from the right flank, but the ball hit off his knee as he attempted a shot, going across the area toward Ibrahimovic.We deserved to win but it was difficult, Mourinho said. They were very well organized defensively as we expected. We had to play, I wont say amazingly well because we didnt, but we had to play well to win.Mourinho didnt start Rooney after saying he wanted to protect his captain from a media backlash if he had another poor performance.It was a crucial win for United, which was coming off a 1-0 loss at Feyenoord in its Europa League opener. The English side moved off the bottom of Group A. Turkeys Fenerbahce, which defeated Feyenoord 1-0 at home, led by a point after two matches.United controlled possession against Zorya but created very few scoring chances, with the best early on when Marcus Rashford struck the crossbar.SPARTA 3, INTER 1Inter Milans opening loss to Hapoel Beer-Sheva became less shocking when it fell at Sparta Prague and dropped to last in Group K.A three-time champion, Inter has lost four straight in European competitions. It arrived boosted by a come-from-behind win over Juventus in Serie A, but produced another poor performance in European competition at Generali Arena.We werent focused, Inter coach Frank de Boer said. We made too many mistakes, giving easy balls to our opponents. We need to get a lot better in that regard, otherwise were going to find every match very difficult.Forward Vaclav Kadlec scored twice in the first half for Sparta, which moved to second place in the group. Hapoel and Southampton, which drew 0-0 in Israel, lead by one point. Inter has yet to earn a point.Striker Rodrigo Palacio pulled Inter back into the game with a goal in the 71st, but defender Mario Holek sealed the victory for the hosts just a minute after Inter defender Andrea Ranocchia was sent off in the 75th for a second yellow card.KRASNODAR 5, NICE 2Balotelli scored but Nice lost at Russian side Krasnodar in Group I. To make things worse, the Italian forward was substituted at halftime, apparently because of a knock to his knee while scoring his fifth goal in four games.Brazilian forwards Joaozinho and Ari scored two goals each for Krasnodar, which leads the group with Schalke. The German team beat Salzburg 3-1.OTHER ACTIONGroup G leader Ajax defeated Standard Liege 1-0 to end a run of five consecutive home draws in Europe, while 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk topped Braga 2-0 in Group H. Fiorentina routed Azerbaijans Qarabag 5-1 with three goals in eight minutes just before halftime, including a pair by Senegalese striker Khouma Babacar, and Steaua Bucharest and Villarreal exchanged first-half goals in a 1-1 draw in Romania in Group L.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni Joel Anthony Jersey . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. 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LOS ANGELES -- Lakers point guard DAngelo Russell will miss Tuesdays game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as Wednesdays game against the Golden State Warriors, because of a sore left knee, the Lakers announced.Russell, the Lakers second-leading scorer at 16.1 points per game, has been dealing with soreness in his knee for some time, Lakers coach Luke Walton said recently. It forced Russell to miss Fridays loss to the San Antonio Spurs.Walton characterized the injury as day-to-day.Obviously the more time he misses, the more serious it seems to be, but Im not going to try to guess or make [a] judgment on that, Walton said before Tuesdays game. Were just going to continue grinding away, going to work and when the trainingg staff, the doctors and DAngelo let us know that hes good to go, hell be back in there.ddddddddddddWalton added, If he cant go out and play without any restrictions, its not really worth having him out there right now. Hes too young and his future is too bright to risk that. But if he can get out there and play the way that we know he can, then obviously we want him on the court.Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, played in Sundays loss to the Chicago Bulls but indicated afterward he was still feeling soreness in his knee.The Lakers are 7-7 entering Tuesdays game against the Thunder. ' ' '
