Europa League Round-up

LeightonBaines got on the scoresheet for Everton

I know the Europa League games were last Thursday but after watching the Sunday games, it was clear they had quite an effect on the British teams involved.

The Group round of this season's Europa League is now underway and teams were in action across Europe on Thursday night.

It was a good night for Everton in their first European game since 2010 as they overcame Wolfsburg 4-1 at Goodison Park. The Toffees were made to work hard for their victory as Tim Howard was the busier keeper and the Germans had more than double Everton's attempts on goal and attempts on target. Goals from Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines and Kevin Mirallas - in addition to a Ricardo Rodriguez own goal - secured the victory. Everton were clinical when they got their chances, and were also thankful to a dose of luck as they were awarded a penalty when it looked like Aiden McGeady was tripped outside the box. If Wolfsburg had been as clinical as Everton then it might have been a different score line as, for long periods, there was little between the two teams. That win puts Everton in a strong position in Group H as the other match saw Lille and FK Krasnodar draw 1-1.

Spurs showed spirit and resilience in their goalless draw with Partizan Belgrade. The hosts were unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions and Spurs had to withstand intimidating conditions in Belgrade. But overall they passed this stern test with flying colours and it could have been even better as Harry Kane had a terrific chance to silence the Partizan crowd but he hit the bar on two minutes. In truth chances were few and far between for both teams and Spurs did look solid as they withstood some late pressure from Partizan. It was a hard-fought point and a solid performance for Spurs, however, unfortunately, many of the headlines after the game will have centred on an anti-Semitic banner displayed by the infamous Partizan fans. That point for Spurs leaves all the teams in Group C level after the first round of matches as Asteras Tripolis and Besiktas drew 1-1 in the other game.

Celtic drew 2-2 at Salzburg in their first game in Group D in a game that saw the Scottish champions go ahead twice in Austria. Goals from Wakaso Mubarak and Scott Brown twice gave Celtic the lead but they were pegged back by the Brazilian Alan and Jonathan Soriano. Much praise was put on the shoulders of Craig Gordon after the game as the 31-year-old, who spent two years out of the game due to injury, made some brilliant saves to keep Salzburg out before he was finally beaten by Soriano's 25-yard free-kick. In the other Group D game Dinamo Zagreb trounced Astra Giurgiu 5-1 to take the early advantage in the Group.

Sevilla got the defence of their UEFA Europa League title off to a strong start as they beat Feyenoord 2-0. Goals from Grzegorz Krychowiak and Stephane M'Bia ensured a solid start to their Group G campaign and Sevilla sit level with Standard Liege, after they recorded a 2-0 win over HNK Rijeka. The three-time winners Inter Milan scraped to a hard-fought 1-0 win at Dnipro and were thankful to see Danilo D'Ambrosio slot home the winner 19 minutes from time after Dnipro captain Ruslan Rotan had been sent off minutes earlier. That result leaves them top of Group F as Qarabag and St Etienne played out a goalless draw.

Elsewhere among the first round of Group fixtures, the highlights included PAOK Salonika romping to a 6-1 win over Dinamo Minsk in Group K and Steaua Bucharest hitting six with no reply in a crushing victory over Aalborg. Young Boys were convincing 5-0 winners at home to Slovan Bratislava, while Napoli came-from-behind to secure an impressive 3-1 win at Sparta Prague.