Holders Atletico Madrid won for the first time in the Europa League this season, beating Rosenborg 3-0, while Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick as Manchester City beat Lech Poznan 3-1.
Swiss second division side Lausanne, trailing 3-1 at Sparta Prague after 23 minutes, hit back to draw 3-3 in the night’s shock result, while Italy’s four teams all failed to win.
Palermo produced the worst performance of the quartet, losing 3-0 at home to CSKA Moscow, while Napoli were held to a goalless draw by visitors Liverpool.
PHOTO: EPA
Zenit St Petersburg, VfB Stuttgart, Porto and Sporting all won to maintain 100 percent records after three games along with CSKA.
Atletico, who took just one point from their first two Group B games, went ahead with a header by Diego Godin in the 18th minute at home to Rosenborg.
Argentine striker Sergio Aguero came off the bench and immediately slipped between two defenders to add the second goal in the 66th and Diego Costa headed home the third to put Atletico back in contention to qualify for the knockout stage.
Atletico are one point behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen who drew 0-0 at Aris Salonika.
Adebayor sent City top of Group A and handed Poland’s Lech Poznan their first defeat.
Adebayor turned past Lech captain Bartosz Bosacki before slotting home his first goal of the season in the 13th minute and headed David Silva’s pinpoint cross into the bottom corner 12 minutes later.
Joel Tshibamba replied for the Poles after halftime, but Adebayor restored City’s two-goal lead from another Silva pass.
The group’s other game saw Juventus draw 1-1 at Salzburg, Milos Krasic scoring early in the second period for the former European champions after Dusan Svento had given the Austrians the lead.
Napoli were held at home by a Liverpool side who rested captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres, but did enough to stay top of Group K with five points, two clear of Napoli and Utrecht. The Dutch side drew 1-1 with Steaua Bucharest.
Sampdoria lost 2-1 at 10-man Metalist Kharkiv in Ukraine despite going ahead through Vladimir Koman in the 32nd minute of the Group I match.
Brazilian Taison equalized, but was sent off in the 55th minute after tangling with Massimo Volta, but his compatriot Cleiton Xavier got the winner with an acrobatic bicycle kick.
Debrecen lost 2-1 in Hungary to PSV Eindhoven in the other Group I clash.
Seydou Doumbia scored twice and Tomas Necid added the third as CSKA Moscow humiliated Palermo with a 3-0 win in Group F.
The group saw the night’s biggest upset, with Silvio scoring in the sixth minute of stoppage time to give Lausanne their first point at Sparta Prague.
Goals from Sparta’s Wilfried Bony either side of Juraj Kucka’s 20th-minute effort put the Czechs 3-1 up after Sebastien Meoli had headed the Swiss into an early lead.
Lausanne’s Martin Steuble set up a nervy final 15 minutes with a sublime curling effort before Silvio turned the ball in from close range to level the scores after Meoli had diverted Nicolas Marazzi’s freekick against the bar.
Group G leaders Zenit enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Croatia’s Hajduk Split and Anderlecht thumped AEK Athens 3-0.
VfB Stuttgart, bottom of the Bundesliga, shrugged off the poor domestic form to beat Getafe 1-0 in Group H with a Ciprian Marica goal. In the other group match, Young Boys proved too good for Odense in a 4-2 victory.
In Group L Hulk scored two second-half goals to help Porto win 3-1 at Besiktas, while Rapid Vienna beat CSKA Sofia 2-0 in Bulgaria.
Group C leaders Sporting thumped Gent 5-1, while in the other match in the group Lille beat Levski Sofia 1-0.
In Group D Villarreal defeated PAOK 1-0 and Dinamo Zagreb and FC Brugge drew 0-0, while in Group E BATE downed Sheriff 1-0 and AZ Alkmaar lost 1-2 at home to Dynamo Kyiv.
Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1, while Karpaty Lviv lost 1-0 at home against Sevilla.
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