Europa League: Round of 16 Starts As Toffees, Villarreal, Zenit Claim Series Openers

Europa League Round-of-16 play commenced on Thursday with eight games.

At Saint Petersburg, Russia:

Axel Witsel (38') and Domenico Criscito (53') delivered the goals as Zenit Saint Petersburg blanked ten-man visiting Torino 2-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Kiev, Ukraine:

Roman Zozulya scored the only goal of the match as FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, in a match played in the Ukrainian capital due to the ongoing unrest in the eastern part of that country, defeated visiting Ajax Amsterdam 1-0 in match one of their two-game series.

At Wolfsburg, Germany:

Kevin De Bruyne scored twice in the second half (63', 76') of VfL Wolfsburg's 3-1 series-opening home win over Inter Milan.

At Bruges, Belgium:

Tom De Sutter (62') and Lior Refaelov (PK-79') provided the scoring as Club Brugge defeated visiting Besiktas 2-1 in match one.  Gokhan Tore scored what might still end up as a valuable road goal for the Turkish club in the 46th minute.

At Liverpool, England:

Steven Naismith (39') and Romelu Lukaku (PK-82') delivered the goals that enabled Everton to come from behind to top visiting Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in their series opener.  Oleh Husyev scored for the Ukrainian club in the 14th minute.

At Villarreal, Spain:

Stephane Mbia scored the winning goal in the 28th minute as Sevilla defeated Villarreal 3-1 on the road in the opening game of a two-game series between Spanish Premira Division clubs.

At Naples, Italy:

Gonzalo Higuain produced a natural hat trick (25', PK-31', 55') as Napoli, after conceding an early goal, roared back and defeated visiting Dynamo Moscow 3-1 in their series opener.

At Florence, Italy:

In an all-Italian contest, Seydou Keita's equalizer in the 77th minute lifted AS Roma to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Fiorentina, whose tally came from Josip Ilicic in the 17th minute.