Europa League: Group Of 16 Commmences

Group of 16 play in the Europa League commenced on Thursday with the opening matches of the eight two-game, total-goals, series.

At Villeneuve d'Ascq, France:

Eden Hazard scored the only goal of the match at 84 minutes as LOSC Lille Metropole took their series opener at home with Liverpool 1-0.

At Hamburg, Germany:

Joris Mathijsen (23'), Ruud van Nistelrooy (40'), and David Jarolim (76') each tallied once as Hamburg got the measure of guests RSC Anderlecht 3-1 in game one.

At Kazan, Russia:

Thanks to the equalizer from Zvjezdan Misimovic at 67 minutes, VfL Wolfsburg gained a 1-1 road draw in match one with FK Rubin Kazan, whose goal came at 29 minutes from Christian Noboa.

At Madrid:

Despite closing the match with only nine men, Sporting still managed to hold Atletico Madrid to a game-one 0-0 home stalemate.

At Lisbon, Portugal:

Hatem Ben Arfa's late header (90') enabled Marseille to gain a 1-1 road draw with SL Benfica in their series opener.  Maxi Pereira scored at 76 minutes for the Eagles.

At Athens, Greece:

Goals courtesy of Axel Witsel (8'), Milan Jovanovic (16'), and Igor De Camargo (74') carried Standard Liege to a 3-1 road win over Panathinaikos in game one.

At Turin, Italy:

A first-half scoring barrage guided Juventus to a 3-1 home win over Fulham in match one.  Nicola Legrottaglie (9'), Jonathan Zebina (25'), and David Trezeguet (45'+3)provided the goalpower for the Bianconeri.

At Valencia, Spain:

Werder Bremen and homestanding Valencia battled to a 1-1 deadlock in the opening match.  Torsten Frings put Werder in front in the 24th minute with his successful penalty kick, but Juan Mata equalized for the hosts at 57 minutes.