Europa League Playoff Round

The playoff round for group-stage berths in the Europa League commenced on Thursday with the opening contest of each of the 30 two-game series.

At Aktobe, Kazakhstan:

Younes Belhanda scored the winning goal in the 57th minute as Dynamo Kiev took the opening match of their series with FC Aktobe 3-2 on the road.

At Krasnodar, Russia:

Ibrahima Balde scored the only goal of the match in the 60th minute as FC Kuban Krasnodar took the opening match of their series with Feyenoord Rotterdam 1-0 at home.

At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Alexander Meier both goals (6', 75') in Eintracht Frankfurt's series-opening 2-0 road win over Qarabag FK.

At Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic:

Cedric scored the winning goal in the 86th minute as Real Betis topped home-standing Jablonec 2-1 in their series opener.

At Tbilisi, Georgia:

Roberto Soldado scored twice (58', 68') as Tottenham Hotspur found themselves 90 minutes from the Europa League's group stage following their series-opening 5-0 frontier-styled road fistbeating of Dinamo Tbilisi.

At Athens:

Johann Gudmundsson scored twice (51', 90'+4) as AZ Alkmaar got the better of hosts Atromitos 3-1 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Grodno, Belarus:

Michy Batshuayi (56') and Frederic Bulot (83') provided the scoring as Standard Liege got their two-game series with FC Minsk off to a good start with a 2-0 road win in game one.

At Haifa, Israel:

Maccabi Haifa defeated visiting Astra Giurgiu 2-0 in their series opener, thanks to goals from Rayo (30') and Alon Turgeman (61').

At Wals-Siezenheim, Austria:

Jonathan Soriano delivered a hat trick (29', 37', 63') as FC Red Bull Salzburg demolished visiting VMFD Zalgiris Vilnius 5-0 in their series opener.

At St. Gallen, Switzerland:

FC St. Gallen and visiting Spartak Moscow battled to a series-opening 1-1 draw.  Yura Movsisyan scored for Spartak in the 37th minute, only to see Marco Mathys equalize for the hosts in the 47th minute.


At Molde, Norway:

Jose Rondon scored twice (21', 90') as FC Rubin Kazan seized control of their two-match series with Molde FC with their game-one 2-0 road win.

At Esbjerg, Denmark:

Peter Ankersen scored twice (26', 80') as Esbjerg FB held off visiting Saint-Etienne 4-3 in their series opener.  Three away goals, though, with the last being tallied by Loic Perrin in the 70th minute kept the French club very much alive in the series.

At Tallinn, Estonia:

Goals from Yevhen Seleznyov (PK-23'), Giuliano (36'), and Roman Zozulya (53') carried FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to a series-opening 3-1 road win over JK Nomme Kalju.

At Tirana, Albania:

Adrian Mierzejewski (PK-31') and Paulo Henrique (68') provided the scoring as Trabzonspor opened their two-match series with a 2-0 road win over Kukesi.

At Tromso, Norway:

With goals from Thomas Bendiksen (PK-49') and Josh Pritchard (68'), Tromso IL took match one 2-1 at home over Besiktas.  Hugo Almeida's goal in the ninth minute kept the visiting Black Eagles very much alive in the series as it shifts to Istanbul for next Thursday's return contest.

At Cluj-Napoca, Romania:

Yazalde scored the only goal of the match in the 51st minute as Sporting Braga defeated CS Pandurii Targu Jiu 1-0 in their series opener on the road.

At Nicosia, Cyprus:

Gaston Sangoy scored both goals in the second half(54', 63') as Apollon Nicosia blanked visiting Nice 2-0 in match one. 

At Hafnarfjordur, Iceland:

Goals from Jelle Vossen (44') and Sam Tillen (OG-79') carried KRC Genk to a series-opening 2-0 road win over FH Hafnarfjordur.

At Boras, Sweden:

IF Elfsborg and visiting FC Nordsjaelland battled to a 1-1 series-opening stalemate.  Morten Nordstrand scored for the visiting Wild Tigers in the 34th minute, but Johan Larsson salved the draw for the hosts with his 74th-minute equalizer.

At Swansea, Wales:

Wayne Routledge scored twice (14', 25') as Swansea City demolished visiting  FC Petrolul Ploiesti 5-1 in game one.

At Rijeka, Croatia:

Leon Benko (74') and Zoran Kvrzic (87') provided the scoring as HNK Rijeka took match one 2-1 over visiting VfB Stuttgart.  Vedad Ibisevic scored late (89') to keep the German club alive in the series.

At Odessa, Ukraine:

Olexiy Gay scored the only goal of the match in the 75th minute as Chornomorets Odessa blanked visiting Skenderbeu Korce 1-0 in their series opener.

At Novi Sad, Serbia:

Petar Skuletic's equalizer in the 54th minute enabled FK Vojvodina to salvage a series-opening 1-1 home deadlock with FC Sheriff.  Ismail Isa scored for the Moldovan club in the 36th minute.

At Belgrade, Serbia:

Partizan Belgrade, thanks to Milo Jolic's goal in the 71st minute took the opening contest with visiting FC Thun 1-0.

At Brussels, Belgium:

Nektarios Alexandrou's equalizer in the 88th minute lifted APOEL FC to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with SV Zulte-Waregem.  Bernard Malanda-Adje scored for the hosts in the 21st minute.

At Trieste, Italy:

Serhiy Rybalka (16'), Dzon Delarge (49'), and Ondrej Kusnir (83') each delivered a goal as FC Slovan Liberec took their series opener with Udinese 3-1 on the road.

At Zurich, Switzerland:

Juan Cuadrado (13') and Mario Gomez (46') each delivered a goal as Fiorentina defeated Grasshoppers 2-1 on the road in the opening match of the clubs' two-game series.

At Vienna, Austria:

Louis Schaub scored the only goal of the match in the 42nd minute as Rapid Vienna defeated visiting FC Dila Gori 1-0 in their series opener.

At Seville, Spain:

Marko Marin scored twice (67', 89') as Sevilla dominated visiting Slask Wroclaw in their series opener 4-1.

At Estoril, Portugal:

Evandro Goebel (10') and Carlitos (40') each scored once as Estoril posted a series-opening 2-0 home win over Austrian third-division club FC Pasching.