Europa League: Knockout Stage Opens

16 games were contested on Thursday as the knockout stage of the Europa League opened, starting with the Round of 32.

At Bilbao, Spain:

Inaki Williams scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute as Athletic Bilbao held off visiting APOEL FC 3-2 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Warsaw, Poland:

Legia Warsaw battled visiting Ajax Amsterdam to a 0-0 game one stalemate.

At Brussels, Belgium:

Frank Acheampong scored twice (5', 31')  in RSC Anderlecht's series-opening 2-0 home blanking of Zenit Saint Petersburg.

At Giurgiu, Romania:

Constantin Budescu (43') and Takayuki Seto (90') each scored once as Astra Giurgiu salvaged a series-opening 2-2 home draw with KRC Genk.  Timothy Castagne (25') and Leandro Trossard (83') each scored a goal for the Belgian club.

At Manchester, England:

Zlatan Ibrahimovic delivered a natural hat trick (15', 75', PK-88') in Manchester United's 3-0 series-opening home domination of Saint-Etienne.

At Villarreal, Spain:

Edin Dzeko delivered a natural hat trick of his own (65', 79', 86') as AS Roma demolished Villarreal 4-0 on the road in their series opener as the Italian club all but locked up a berth in the Round of 16.

At Sofia, Bulgaria:

Youssef Toutouh scored the winning goal in the 53rd minute as FC Copenhagen knocked off Ludogorets Razgrad 2-1 on the road in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Vigo, Spain:

Gustavo Blanco Luschuk scored the only goal of the match in the 27th minute as Shakhtar Donetsk downed Celta Vigo 1-0 on the road in their series opener.

At Piraeus, Greece:

Osmanlispor of Turkey held hosts Olypiacos to a series-opening 0-0 stalemate.

At Ghent, Belgium:

Jeremy Perbet scored the only goal of the match in the 59th minute as KAA Gent knocked off visiting Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in their opening contest with the English club.

At Rostov-on-Don, Russia:

Miha Mevlja opened the scoring in the 15th minute as FC Rostov demolished visiting Sparta Prague 4-0 in their series opener.

At Krasnodar, Russia:

Viktor Claesson's fourth-minute goal stood up as FC Krasnodar defeated visiting Fenerbahce 1-0 in game one.

At Monchengladbach, Germany:

Federico Bernardeschi scored the game's lone goal in the 44th minute as Fiorentina knocked off Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 on the road in the opening game of their two-contest series.

At Alkmaar, Netherlands:

Alexandre Lacazetts scored twice (45'+2, 57') as Lyon topped AZ Alkmaar 4-1 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Beersheba, Israel:

Cenk Tosun scored the game winner in the 60th minute as Besiktas knocked off Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3-1 on the road in their series opener.

At Thessaloniki, Greece:

Guido Burgstaller (27'), Max Meyer (82'), and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (90') each scored once as Schalke 04 dominated PAOK FC 3-0 on the road in the opening contest of their two-game series.