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Jimmy the Baptist: Carter redefined ‘evangelical,’ from campaigns to race and women’s rights

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Jimmy the Baptist: Carter redefined ‘evangelical,’ from campaigns to race and women’s rights
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Jimmy the Baptist: Carter redefined ‘evangelical,’ from campaigns to race and women’s rights

2025-01-02 01:21 Last Updated At:01:31

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Before reaching the 1978 peace deal between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter managed months of intense preparation, high-stakes negotiations at Camp David and a field trip to the Gettysburg battlefield to demonstrate the consequences of war.

But looking back on his most celebrated foreign policy achievement, the 39th president said intricate diplomacy ultimately wasn’t the deciding factor.

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FILE - Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., Rosalynn Carter, President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Christine Parris King, sister of the late Dr. King, and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young sing during a reception honoring friends of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change in Washington on Oct. 3, 1978. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)

FILE - Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., Rosalynn Carter, President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Christine Parris King, sister of the late Dr. King, and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young sing during a reception honoring friends of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change in Washington on Oct. 3, 1978. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)

FILE - Day breaks over the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Day breaks over the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, background right, looks at former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, while visiting a weekly protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, on Oct. 22, 2010. The protest was organized by groups supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, background right, looks at former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, while visiting a weekly protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, on Oct. 22, 2010. The protest was organized by groups supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga, on June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga, on June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xioaping and President Jimmy Carter smile as they face photographers in the Oval Office in Washington on Jan. 29, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xioaping and President Jimmy Carter smile as they face photographers in the Oval Office in Washington on Jan. 29, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Polish First Secretary Edward Gierek shake hands after their formal talks in Warsaw on Dec. 30, 1977. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Polish First Secretary Edward Gierek shake hands after their formal talks in Warsaw on Dec. 30, 1977. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter, center, listens to a speech by former President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Carazo Odio, right, at the opening of the Joan B. Kroc Institute For Peace and Justice on the campus of the University of San Diego, in San Diego, on Dec. 6, 2001. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter, center, listens to a speech by former President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Carazo Odio, right, at the opening of the Joan B. Kroc Institute For Peace and Justice on the campus of the University of San Diego, in San Diego, on Dec. 6, 2001. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter chat with Rev. Charles Trentham as they leave the First Baptist Church in Washington on March 20, 1977. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter chat with Rev. Charles Trentham as they leave the First Baptist Church in Washington on March 20, 1977. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File)

FILE - Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter shakes hands with church-goers outside the Plains Baptist Church, in Plains, Ga., on July 18, 1976. (AP Photo/Peter Bregg, File)

FILE - Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter shakes hands with church-goers outside the Plains Baptist Church, in Plains, Ga., on July 18, 1976. (AP Photo/Peter Bregg, File)

FILE - Georgia Democratic Gov. Jimmy Carter officially announces his candidacy for president in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 1974. (AP Photo/BJ, File)

FILE - Georgia Democratic Gov. Jimmy Carter officially announces his candidacy for president in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 1974. (AP Photo/BJ, File)

FILE - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, stand at attention as the national anthems of their respective countries are played on the north lawn of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 24, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, stand at attention as the national anthems of their respective countries are played on the north lawn of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 24, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown on Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown on Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

“We finally got an agreement because we all shared faith in the same God,” Carter told biographer Jonathan Alter, as he traced his Christianity, Begin’s Judaism and Sadat’s Islam to their common ancestor in each religion’s sacred texts. “We all considered ourselves the sons of Abraham.”

Carter, who died Sunday at 100, was widely known as a man of faith, especially after his long post-presidency became defined by images of the Baptist Sunday School teacher building homes for low-income people and fighting diseases across the developing world.

Yet beyond piety and service, the Georgia Democrat stood out from his earliest days on the national stage with unusually prolific, nuanced explanations of his beliefs. Carter quoted Jesus and famous theologians and connected it all to his policy pursuits, living out his own definition of what it means to be a self-professed Christian in American politics.

“Most people go to Washington in search of their own power,” said David Gergen, a White House adviser to four presidents. “Carter went to Washington in search of our national soul. That doesn’t mean those others didn’t have good intentions, but for Jimmy Carter it just seemed like a different purpose.”

As a candidate in 1976, Carter described himself as a “born-again Christian.” Based on the New Testament, the reference is routine for many Protestants in the South who believe following Jesus means adopting a new version of oneself. To national media and voters unfamiliar with evangelical lexicon, it made Carter a curiosity.

“We saw ourselves as being very much cultural outcasts” as evangelicals in the mid-1970s, said Dartmouth College professor Randall Balmer, who has written extensively on Carter’s faith. The evangelical movement had not yet become a political force mostly aligned with Republicans, and “to have someone use our language to describe himself and still be taken seriously as a presidential candidate,” Balmer said, “was startling, really.”

Carter used the presidency to elevate human rights in U.S. foreign policy, champion environmental conservation and resist military conflict. He criticized American greed and consumerism. He proselytized to other world leaders.

Carter continued the approach for decades thereafter through The Carter Center and its global efforts on peace, democracy and public health. Into his 90s, Carter criticized American militarism and noted one of Jesus’s Biblical monikers: “Prince of Peace.”

“He carried his faith with him every minute of every day, and he put it to use every single minute of every single day,” said Jill Stuckey, a Plains resident and longtime friend of Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023 at 96.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg attended some of Carter’s church lessons in Plains, Georgia, and sought the former president’s counsel during his own campaign in 2020. He said Carter elevated faith beyond partisan divisions.

“There are a lot of conservatives who seem to use the Bible almost as a weapon or a cudgel, and there are a lot of liberals who seem to use faith mostly as a way to desperately signal that they’re not bad people,” Buttigieg told The Associated Press. “President Carter demonstrated a third thing — faith that calls you to make yourself useful to others.”

Carter’s unabashed evangelism was an outlier in a Democratic Party that grew more secular and pluralistic during his public life. Yet Carter advocated “absolute and total separation of church and state” and opposed public money for religious schools. He admired the Rev. Billy Graham personally, but called it “inappropriate” to invite the nation’s leading evangelical to lead White House prayer services, as Graham did for previous administrations.

Carter further distinguished himself from many evangelicals by criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and taking liberal stances on race relations, women’s rights and, as he grew older, LGBTQ rights. He once described feeling shocked when a “high official” in the Southern Baptist Convention told him in the Oval Office that “we are praying, Mr. President, that you will abandon your secular humanism as your religion.”

By his later years, Carter “was happy with the label of ‘progressive evangelical,’” Balmer said.

Carter grew up as the son of a deacon in the Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination founded before the Civil War as a regional splinter group that supported slavery. He did not openly question his father’s segregationist views or the white supremacist origins of his denomination, and he didn’t yet consider himself an evangelical as a young man. But he had exposure to Black evangelical traditions by occasionally visiting St. Mark AME Church, the congregation of the tenant farming families that worked his father’s land.

“I could see spirit, sincerity and fervor in their worship services that we lacked in our church in Plains,” Carter once wrote.

Decades later, during the Civil Rights Movement, Carter urged his Plains congregation to allow integrated worship, but he and Rosalynn stood virtually alone. Carter was a state senator by then, and notably did not offer such explicit integration advocacy beyond church walls.

After his failed bid for governor in 1966, Carter was “disillusioned with politics and life in general,” he wrote. His sister Ruth, a well-known evangelist and faith healer, persuaded him to go on “pioneer missions.” The future president knocked on doors to share the gospel in Pennsylvania and in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods of Massachusetts. He came to see these sojourns as a catalyst to “apply my Christian faith much more regularly to my secular life.”

Carter even got to share his Christianity with Bob Dylan, in a one-on-one session the iconic folksinger sought with the Georgia governor in 1971.

In 1977, during his first foreign trip as president, Carter was invited by Edward Gierek, Poland’s top leader under Moscow’s Soviet control, to speak without their aides present, Carter later recalled. Gierek was “somewhat ill at ease” while explaining that he was an atheist in conformity with the Kremlin, but wanted to learn about Christianity. So Carter shared some Christian principles, and “asked him if he would consider accepting Jesus Christ as his personal savior.”

Gierek replied that he could not make a public declaration, and “I never knew what his decision was,” Carter later wrote. But in 1979, Gierek rebuffed Moscow’s orders by allowing newly elected Pope John Paul II to visit his native Poland. The Kremlin deposed Gierek in 1980, but that visit became a seminal moment in John Paul’s papacy and his efforts to break the Soviet Union.

At a White House dinner, Carter pressed Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to allow freedom of worship and Bible ownership and admit American missionaries. Xiaoping allowed the first two but not the latter. Carter in 2018 noted projections that China, by 2025, will have more Protestants than America.

And at Camp David, Carter prayed often and talked openly of faith with Begin and Sadat, unpacking ancient animosities between their religions.

When the Carters left the White House in 1981, having had enough of the lingering racial tensions at Plains Baptist Church, they transferred to nearby Maranatha Baptist Church, Balmer said. Carter’s hometown funeral will take place there after his state service at Washington’s National Cathedral.

Carter disaffiliated from Southern Baptists two decades later, at the age of 76, because the denomination’s leadership, he said, demeaned women as subservient to men in the home, church and wider society. Carter remained at Maranatha, noting that the congregation’s deacons were divided about evenly between the sexes.

“There is one incontrovertible act concerning the relationship between Jesus Christ and women,” Carter explained in his final book, “Faith,” published in 2018. “He treated them as equal to men, which was dramatically different from the prevailing custom of the times.”

Carter had a slower shift on LGBTQ matters. In a 1976 campaign interview with Playboy magazine, he said he considered sexual relations outside of marriage a sin and, thus, could not easily reconcile homosexuality. The answer did not contemplate same-sex marriage as a legitimate civil or religious institution.

As his 75th wedding anniversary approached in 2021, however, Carter had a different view on government- and church-sanctioned marriage for same-sex couples. “I don’t have any opposition it,” he told AP, declaring himself “very liberal” on any issue “that relates to human rights.” Sexuality “will continue to be divisive” within Christianity, he predicted, “but the church is evolving.”

Buttigieg, an Episcopalian whose same-sex marriage is recognized by his church, said Carter’s willingness to be open about his faith, in all its complexity, provides a “tremendous example” for “a generation of Christians who don’t believe that God belongs to any political party.”

The Rev. Bernice King, the daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., praised Carter as a “man of peace and compassion” and argued that for all his books and expositions and Sunday School lessons, the Baptist from Plains hewed to a simple faith.

“He looked at the life of Jesus Christ and how Christ interfaced and interacted with people,” King said. “He wrestled with that as a leader. I think he took serious: ‘What would Jesus do? ... What would somebody that is love-centered do?’”

This name of a former Chinese leader has been corrected to Deng Xiaoping. The last name was spelled incorrectly in previous versions as Xioaping and Xiaping.

FILE - Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., Rosalynn Carter, President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Christine Parris King, sister of the late Dr. King, and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young sing during a reception honoring friends of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change in Washington on Oct. 3, 1978. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)

FILE - Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., Rosalynn Carter, President Jimmy Carter, Coretta Scott King, Christine Parris King, sister of the late Dr. King, and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young sing during a reception honoring friends of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change in Washington on Oct. 3, 1978. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)

FILE - Day breaks over the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Day breaks over the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, background right, looks at former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, while visiting a weekly protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, on Oct. 22, 2010. The protest was organized by groups supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, background right, looks at former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, while visiting a weekly protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, on Oct. 22, 2010. The protest was organized by groups supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga, on June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga, on June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xioaping and President Jimmy Carter smile as they face photographers in the Oval Office in Washington on Jan. 29, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xioaping and President Jimmy Carter smile as they face photographers in the Oval Office in Washington on Jan. 29, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Polish First Secretary Edward Gierek shake hands after their formal talks in Warsaw on Dec. 30, 1977. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Polish First Secretary Edward Gierek shake hands after their formal talks in Warsaw on Dec. 30, 1977. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter, center, listens to a speech by former President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Carazo Odio, right, at the opening of the Joan B. Kroc Institute For Peace and Justice on the campus of the University of San Diego, in San Diego, on Dec. 6, 2001. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter, center, listens to a speech by former President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Carazo Odio, right, at the opening of the Joan B. Kroc Institute For Peace and Justice on the campus of the University of San Diego, in San Diego, on Dec. 6, 2001. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter chat with Rev. Charles Trentham as they leave the First Baptist Church in Washington on March 20, 1977. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter chat with Rev. Charles Trentham as they leave the First Baptist Church in Washington on March 20, 1977. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File)

FILE - Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter shakes hands with church-goers outside the Plains Baptist Church, in Plains, Ga., on July 18, 1976. (AP Photo/Peter Bregg, File)

FILE - Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter shakes hands with church-goers outside the Plains Baptist Church, in Plains, Ga., on July 18, 1976. (AP Photo/Peter Bregg, File)

FILE - Georgia Democratic Gov. Jimmy Carter officially announces his candidacy for president in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 1974. (AP Photo/BJ, File)

FILE - Georgia Democratic Gov. Jimmy Carter officially announces his candidacy for president in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 1974. (AP Photo/BJ, File)

FILE - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, stand at attention as the national anthems of their respective countries are played on the north lawn of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 24, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, stand at attention as the national anthems of their respective countries are played on the north lawn of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 24, 1979. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown on Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown on Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Andre Onana, described by Nemanja Matic as “one of the worst goalkeepers in Manchester United's history”, was at fault for both goals as his side drew 2-2 at Lyon in a Europa League quarterfinal first leg on Thursday.

Former United midfielder Matic, now a player with Lyon, made the less than flattering comments about Onana in a pre-game press conference.

Then, in the match itself, United went 1-0 down after 25 minutes when Onana failed to stop a curling free-kick from out wide by Thiago Almada.

Leny Yoro equalized for the visiting team in first-half stoppage time, with a header after goalkeeper Lucas Perri had cleared a Bruno Fernandes free-kick.

Fernandes then sent a precise cross for substitute Joshua Zirkzee to head what seemed to be the winner in the 88th minute.

But Rayan Cherki hit back for Lyon when he pounced on the rebound after Cameroon international Onana had spilled an effort from Georges Mikautadze.

“I think this is the worst moment to concede a goal like that," Yoro told TNT Sports. “We were winning 2-1. I think away this was a good score, but we go with a draw and we try to win the game at home.”

United remains the only side unbeaten in the competition this season.

Winning the Europa League, as United did in 2017, is rewarded with a spot in the Champions League, something the club is highly unlikely to achieve through its current 13th-place position in the Premier League.

Tottenham, also bidding to rescue a dismal Premier League campaign, hit back to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Tottenham went 1-0 down when Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitiké scored following a fast counterattack in the sixth minute.

The hosts then drew level with a goal from Pedro Porro in the 26th after he met a cross from James Maddison.

“I can’t ask any more of the lads,” said Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou. “It was disappointing to concede the way we did.”

Ulrik Saltnes struck twice as Bodø/Glimt stunned Lazio 2-0 in tough conditions just inside the Arctic Circle.

Earlier, heavy snowfall in Bodø put the game in doubt between the Norwegian champion and the side that had finished top in the league phase.

In a game played on an artificial pitch, Saltnes scored early in the second half with a low shot after Ole Didrik Blomberg fed him inside the area.

The midfielder then added his second goal by lobbing the ball over Lazio goalkeeper Christos Mandas, with Alessio Romagnoli's clearance coming after it crossed the line.

Ten-man Rangers and Athletic Bilbao shared a goalless draw in Glasgow, after the home side was reduced to 10 men in the 13th minute when defender Robin Pröpper brought down Iñaki Williams and was dismissed.

Alex Berenguer also missed a late penalty for Athletic.

All the second legs are next Thursday.

Chelsea is still cruising in the Europa Conference League after keeping its perfect record with a 3-0 win at Legia Warsaw.

Following a dull first half, Chelsea struck twice early in the second period and then added another goal.

Tyrique George netted the first in the 49th on a rebound, his first goal for the club, while second-half substitute Noni Madueke scored with a left-foot shot eight minutes later. It could have been three but Christopher Nkunku had his spot kick saved.

Madueke made it 3-0 from close range in the 74th.

In the other quarterfinal, first-leg games, Fiorentina won 2-1 at Celje, Real Betis beat Jagiellonia 2-0 and Rapid Vienna downed Djurgården 1-0.

All the second legs are next Thursday.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Tottenham's head coach Ange Postecoglou speaks to the players during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Tottenham's head coach Ange Postecoglou speaks to the players during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's Arthur Theate, center, clears the ball before Tottenham's Brennan Johnson, background, can reach it during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's Arthur Theate, center, clears the ball before Tottenham's Brennan Johnson, background, can reach it during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Athletic Bilbao's Oihan Sancet, center, heads the ball during the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)

Athletic Bilbao's Oihan Sancet, center, heads the ball during the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)

Rangers' Dujon Sterling reacts following an injury during the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Rangers' Dujon Sterling reacts following an injury during the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Rangers' Bailey Rice is carried off on a stretcher, during the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)

Rangers' Bailey Rice is carried off on a stretcher, during the UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday April 10, 2025. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)

Fiorentina's Rolando Mandragora scores his side's second goal from a penalty kick during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinal soccer match between Celje and Fiorentina in Celje, Slovenia, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)

Fiorentina's Rolando Mandragora scores his side's second goal from a penalty kick during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinal soccer match between Celje and Fiorentina in Celje, Slovenia, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)

Lyon's goalkeeper Lucas Perri reacts after Rayan Cherki scored his side's second goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's goalkeeper Lucas Perri reacts after Rayan Cherki scored his side's second goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim gestures during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim gestures during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's Rayan Cherki, centre back to the camera, scores his side's second goal past Manchester United's goalkeeper Andre Onana during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's Rayan Cherki, centre back to the camera, scores his side's second goal past Manchester United's goalkeeper Andre Onana during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Joshua Zirkzee celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Joshua Zirkzee celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's Rayan Cherki, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's second goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's Rayan Cherki, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's second goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Bodø/Glimt's Ulrik Saltnes, right, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP)

Bodø/Glimt's Ulrik Saltnes, right, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP)

Bodø/Glimt's Ulrik Saltnes celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP)

Bodø/Glimt's Ulrik Saltnes celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP)

Legia's fans use flares during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinals soccer match between Legia Warszawa and Chelsea at the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski's Municipal stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Legia's fans use flares during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinals soccer match between Legia Warszawa and Chelsea at the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski's Municipal stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Chelsea's Malo Gusto, center, jumps for the ball during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinals soccer match between Legia Warszawa and Chelsea at the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski's Municipal stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Chelsea's Malo Gusto, center, jumps for the ball during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinals soccer match between Legia Warszawa and Chelsea at the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski's Municipal stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Chelsea players celebrate a goal against Legia during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinals soccer match between Legia Warszawa and Chelsea at the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski's Municipal stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Chelsea players celebrate a goal against Legia during the Europa Conference League first-leg quarterfinals soccer match between Legia Warszawa and Chelsea at the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski's Municipal stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Bodø/Glimt's Ole Didrik Blomberg, right, and Lazio's goalkeeper Christos Mandas react during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP)

Bodø/Glimt's Ole Didrik Blomberg, right, and Lazio's goalkeeper Christos Mandas react during the Europa League quarterfinal soccer match between Bodø/Glimt and Lazio at Aspmyra Stadium in Bodø, Norway, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Lise Åserud/NTB via AP)

Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kaua Santos watches the ball cross the goal line after Tottenham's Pedro Porro scored his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kaua Santos watches the ball cross the goal line after Tottenham's Pedro Porro scored his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kaua Santos makes a save during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kaua Santos makes a save during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kaua Santos watches a shot from Tottenham's Pedro Porro hit the bar during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kaua Santos watches a shot from Tottenham's Pedro Porro hit the bar during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Tottenham's Pedro Porro celebrates with James Maddison after scoring his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Tottenham's Pedro Porro celebrates with James Maddison after scoring his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Manchester United's Casemiro, centre, challenges for the ball with Lyon's Nicolas Tagliafico, centre left, and Moussa Niakhate, centre right, as Lyon's Thiago Almada, not in the picture, scores the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Casemiro, centre, challenges for the ball with Lyon's Nicolas Tagliafico, centre left, and Moussa Niakhate, centre right, as Lyon's Thiago Almada, not in the picture, scores the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's Corentin Tolisso, centre right, reacts during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Lyon's Corentin Tolisso, centre right, reacts during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Leny Yoro, second from right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Leny Yoro, second from right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Leny Yoro, left, celebrates with Alejandro Garnacho after scoring his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Manchester United's Leny Yoro, left, celebrates with Alejandro Garnacho after scoring his side's first goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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