Europa League: Knockout Stage Commences; Reds, Toffies. Sevilla, Ajax, Zenit Take Series Openers

The Europa League's knockout stage opened on Thursday with 16 games.

At Bern, Switzerland:

Romelu Lukaku delivered a hat trick (24', 39', 58') as Everton found themselves halfway to the Round of 16 following their series-opening 4-1 road win over BSC Young Boys.

At Turin, Italy:

Inaki Williams (9') and Carlos Gurpegi (73') each scored a goal at Athletic Bilbao gained a 2-2 game-one road draw with Torino.  Maxi Lopez (18', 42') scored both goals for the hosts.

At Wolfsburg, Germany:

Bas Dost scored twice (46', 63') in VfL Wolfsburg's series-opening 2-0 blanking of visiting Sporting CP.

At Aalborg, Denmark:

Lior Refaelov scored the winning goal in the 29th minute as Club Brugge crowned Aalborg BK 3-1 on the road in game one of their two-game series.

At Kiev, Ukraine:

In a match that was played in the Ukrainian capital due to the ongoing conflict in the eastern part of that country, Jaba Hankava (50') and Ruslan Rotan (54') each scored a second-half goal four minutes apart as FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk blanked visiting Olympiacos 2-0 in game one.

At Trabzon, Turkey:

Henrique got the ball rolling with his sixth-minute tally as Napoli scored three goals in the first half-hour en route to a series-opening 4-0 road demolition of Trabzonspor as the Italian club all but locked up a Round-of-16 berth.

At Rome:

Colin Kazim-Richards' equalizer in the 55th minute carried Feyenoord Rotterdam to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with AS Roma. Gervinho scored for the hosts in the 22nd minute.

At Eindhoven, Netherlands:

Hulk scored the only goal of Zenit Saint Petersburg's match one 1-0 road victory over PSV Eindhoven in the 64th minute.

At Seville, Spain:

Vincente Iborra scored the game's lone goal in the 70th minute as current Europa League titleholders Sevilla blanked visiting Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 in their series opener.

At Amsterdam, Netherlands:

Arkadiusz Milik scored the only goal of the match in the 35th minute as Ajax Amsterdam took the opening match of their series with Legia Warsaw 1-0 at home.

At Brussels, Belgium:

Dynamo Moscow held home-standing RSC Anderlecht to a series-opening 0-0 stalemate.

At Guingamp, France:

Moustapha Diallo's game-winning goal in the 75th minute (just three minutes after teammate Claudio Beauvue registered his tally) enabled Guingamp to come from behind and upend visiting Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in their series opener.

At Villarreal, Spain:

Denis Cheryshev scored the winning goal in the 54th minute as Villarreal defeated visiting FC Red Bull Salzburg  2-1 in match one of the two-game series.

At Liverpool, England:

Mario Balotelli's successful penalty kick in the 85th minute provided all the scoring in Liverpool's 1-0 game-one victory over visiting Besiktas.

At London:

Jose Maria Basanta's 36th-minute equalizer lifted Fiorentina to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Tottenham Hotspur.  Roberto Soldado scored for Spurs in the sixth minute.

At Glasgow, Scotland:

Stuart Armstrong (24'), Hugo Campagnero (OG-26'), and John Guidetti (90'+3) each scored a goal for Celtic as the Bhoys salvaged a series-opening 3-3 road draw with Inter Milan.  Rodrigo Palacio scored twice (13', 45') and Xherdan Shaqiri (4') once for the Nerazzurri.