Europa League: Group-Stage Play Opens

24 games were contested on Thursday, which marked the opening day of Europa League group-stage play.

Group A:

At Monchengladbach, Germany:

Ikechukwu Uche's equalizer in the 68th minute lifted Villarreal to a 1-1 road draw with Borussia Monchengladbach.  Patrick Herrmann scored for the hosts in the 21st minute.

At Nicosia, Cyprus:

Philippe Koch's own goal in the 87th minute proved costly as Apollon Limassol defeated visiting FC Zurich 3-2.

GROUP A STANDINGS:

1. Apollon Limassol (GP: 1; GD: +1; PTS: 3)
2. Villarreal (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
3. Borussia Monchengladbach (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
4. FC Zurich (GP: 1; GD: -1; PTS: 0)



Group B:

At Bruges, Belgium:

Club Brugge battled visiting Torino to a 0-0 deadlock.

At Copenhagen, Denmark:

FC Copenhagen, with Nicolai Jorgensen delivering both goals (68', 81') blanked visiting HJK Helsinki 2-0.

GROUP B STANDINGS:

1. FC Copenhagen (GP: 1; GD: +2; PTS: 3)
2. Club Brugge (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
3. Torino FC (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
4. HJK Helsinki (GP: 1; GD: -2; PTS: 0)



Group C:

At Belgrade, Serbia:

Partizan Belgrade and visiting Tottenham Hotspur battled to a 0-0 draw.

At Istanbul, Turkey:

Facundo Parra's equalizer in the 88th minute lifted Asteras Tripoli to a 1-1 draw with Besiktas.  Gokhan Tore scored for the Black Eagles in the 33rd minute.

GROUP C STANDINGS:

1. Asteras Tripoli FC (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
2. Besiktas JK (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
3. Partizan Belgrade (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
4. Tottenham Hotspur (GP:1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)



Group D:

At Wals-Siezenheim, Austria:

Alan Douglas Borges de Carvalho (36') and Jonatan Soriano (78') each scored a goal as FC Red Bull Salzburg came back from a pair of one-goal deficits to salvage a 2-2 home draw with Celtic.  Wakaso Mubarak (14') and Scott Brown (60') provided the scoring for the Bhoys.

At Zagreb, Croatia:

Dinamo Zagreb, with El Arbi Hillel Soudani delivering a natural first-half hat trick (17', 24', 45'+1), demolished visiting FC Astra Giurgiu 5-1.

GROUP D STANDINGS:

1. Dinamo Zagreb (GP: 1; GD: +4; PTS: 1)
2. Celtic (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
3. FC Red Bull Salzburg (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
4. FC Astra Giurgiu (GP: 1; GD: -4; PTS: 0)



Group E:

At Eindhoven, Netherlands:

Luuk de Jong's successfully-converted penalty kick in the 26th minute produced all the scoring in PSV Eindhoven's 1-0 hove win over Estoril.

At Athens:

Aleksandr Kokorin (40') and Alexei Ionov (49') produced the scoring as Dynamo Moscow held off home-standing Panathinaikos 2-1.

GROUP E STANDINGS:

1. Dynamo Moscow (GP: 1; GD: +1; PTS: 3)
2. PSV Eindhoven (GP: 1; GD: +1; PTS: 3)
3. Panathinaikos (GP: 1; GD: -1; PTS: 0)
4. Estoril (GP: 1; GD: -1; PTS: 0)



Group F:

At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Sainte-Etienne held hosts Qarabag FK to a 0-0 stalemate.

At Kiev, Ukraine:

Danilo D'Ambrosio scored the only goal of the match in the 71st minute as Inter Milan defeated ten-man FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 1-0 on the road.  This game was played in Kiev instead of Dnipropetrovsk due to pro-Russian unrest in eastern Ukraine.

GROUP F STANDINGS:

1. Inter Milan (GP: 1; GD: +1; PTS: 3)
2. Qarabag FK (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
3. Saint-Etienne (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
4. FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (GP: 1; GD: -1; PTS: 0)



Group G:

At Liege, Belgium:

Laurent Ciman (74') and Vinicius Araujo (87') delivered the goals as Standard Liege blanked visiting HNK Rijeka 2-0.

At Seville, Spain:

Grzegorz Krychowiak (8') and Stephane M'Bia (31') each scored a goal as Sevilla began their Europa League title defense with a 2-0 home blanking of Feyenoord Rotterdam.

GROUP G STANDINGS:

1. Sevilla (GP: 1; GD; +2; PTS: 3)
    Standard Liege (GP: 1; GD: +2; PTS: 3)
3. Feyenoord Rotterdam (GP: 1; GD: -2; PTS: 0)
    HNK Rijeka (GP: 1; GD: -2; PTS: 0)



Group H:

At Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France:

Simon Kjaer's equalizer in the 63rd minute enabled LOSC Lille Metropole to salvage a 1-1 home draw with FC Krasnodar.  Ricardo Laborde scored in the 35th minute for the visiting Russian club.

At Liverpool, England:

Seamus Coleman (45'+1), Leighton Baines (47'), and Kevin Mirallas (89') each scored a goal as Everton dominated visiting VfL Wolfsburg 4-1.

GROUP H STANDINGS:

1. Everton (GP: 1; GD: +3; PTS: 3)
2. FC Krasnodar (GP: 1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
3. LOSC Lille Metropole (GP:1; GD: 0; PTS: 1)
4. VfL Wolfsburg (GP: 1; GD: -3; PTS: 0)



Group I:

At Bern, Switzerland:

Jan Lecjaks became the first of five different goal scorers with his fifth-minute tally as BSC Young Boys demolished visiting FC Slovan Bratislava 5-0.

At Naples, Italy:

Dries Mertens scored twice in the second half (51', 81') as Napoli downed visiting Sparta Prague 3-1.

GROUP I STANDINGS:

1. BSC Young Boys (GP: 1; GD: +5; PTS: 3)
2. Napoli (GP: 1; GD: +2; PTS: 3)
3. Sparta Prague (GP: 1; GD: 2; PTS: 0)
4. FC Slovan Bratislava (GP: 1; GD: -5; PTS: 0)



Group J:

At Bucharest, Romania:

Claudiu Keseru delivered a natural hat trick (61', 65', 72') while Raul Rusescu added a double (PK-59', 73') as Steaua Bucharest blasted open a contest that had been scoreless at halftime and turned the game with visiting Aalborg BK into a 6-0 massacre with all six goals taking place during a 22-minute span.

At Vila do Conde, Portugal:

Andriy Yarmolenko (20'), Younes Belhanda (25'), and Artem Kravets (70') each scored a goal as Dynamo Kiev dominated Rio Ave 3-0 on the road.

GROUP J STANDINGS:

1. Steaua Bucharest (GP: 1; GD: +6; PTS: 3)
2. Dynamo Kiev (GP: 1; GD: +3; PTS: 3)
3. Rio Ave (GP: 1; GD: -3; PTS: 0)
4. Aalborg BK (GP: 1; GD: -6; PTS: 0)



Group K:

At Thessaloniki, Greece:

Stefanos Athanasaidis produced a natural hat trick (11', 16', 28') during the first half hour of the match as PAOK FC destroyed visiting FC Dinamo Minsk 6-1.

At Florence, Italy:

Juan Vargas (34'), Juan Cuadrado (67'), and Filippo Bernardeschi (88') each scored a goal as Fiorentina dominated visiting ten-man Guingamp 3-0.

GROUP K STANDINGS:

1. PAOK FC (GP: 1; GD: +5; PTS: 3)
2. Fiorentina (GP:1; GD: +3; PTS: 3)
3. Guingamp (GP: 1; GD: -3; PTS: 0)
4. FC Dinamo Minsk (GP: 1; GD: -5; PTS: 0)


Group L:

At Lviv, Ukraine:

Avram Papadopoulos scored the winning goal in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time as Trabzonspor defeated FC Metalist Kharkiv 2-1 on the road in a contest that was moved from Kharkiv due to the ongoing pro-Russian unrest in eastern Ukraine.

At Warsaw, Poland:

Miroslav Radovic scored the only goal of the match in the 58th minute as Legia Warsaw defeated visiting Lokeren from Belgium 1-0.

GROUP L STANDINGS:

1. Trabzonspor (GP: 1; GD: +1; PTS: 3)
2. Legia Warsaw (GP: 1; GD: +1; PTS: 3)
3. FC Metalist Kharkiv (GP: 1; GD: -1; PTS: 0)
4. Lokeren (GP: 1; GD: -1; PTS: 0)