Holders Sevilla, with a record-breaking 13-second goal, Everton and VfL Wolfsburg were all on top after Thursday’s UEFA Europa League round-of-16 first legs.
Sevilla ran away with their all-Spanish clash at Villarreal 3-1, Victor Machin Vitolo creating competition history with his grease-lightning opener.
At Everton’s Goodison Park in Liverpool, Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku gave his English Premier League club a slender advantage against Dynamo Kiev, his late penalty securing a 2-1 victory.
Photo: AFP
Roberto Martinez’s team fell behind in the 14th minute to an Oleg Gusev strike, but they equalized six minutes before halftime when Lukaku’s power and poise helped him lay on a goal for Scottish forward Steven Naismith.
The Toffees, who once again gave a better showing in Europe than they have managed for most of a disappointing domestic campaign, pushed hard for a second-half winner and finally broke down the Dynamo defense in the 82nd minute.
Referee Carlos Velasco Carballo awarded a spot-kick for handball by Danilo Silva and Lukaku converted, making him Everton’s all-time record European scorer with seven goals.
Photo: EPA
Martinez’s men head to Ukraine for next week’s second leg in Kiev knowing they are still in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals as the only remaining British side in the competition.
“We learned that when we have got that tempo in our play and when we use the character we have we are a very strong team,” Martinez said. “Overall, it was a very good performance and the reaction shows we are a very good team. We are not favorites, as the home team always has a little advantage. Now we are looking forward to the second leg as we travel well in Europe.”
In Naples, Italy, Gonzalo Higuain’s hat-trick inspired Rafael Benitez’s SSC Napoli to a 3-1 victory over Dynamo Moscow.
“It was a difficult game, especially after their goal. Thankfully, we won and we’ll head to Russia with a fairly good advantage. We’ll suffer in the second leg, but Napoli can qualify,” Higuain told Mediaset.
The all Serie A affair between ACF Fiorentina and AS Roma ended 1-1.
Two other Italian clubs suffered travel sickness, three-time champions Inter coming away from their visit to VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 losers and Torino going down 2-0 at Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Kevin de Bruyne lifted Wolfsburg past Inter, despite Roberto Mancini’s men looking to have the upper hand over their high-flying Bundesliga hosts when Rodrigo Palacio put the Serie A visitors into a sixth-minute lead.
De Bruyne set up Naldo for the German side’s first-half equalizer, then with a little help from Inter’s stand-in goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo he scored a second-half brace.
Wolves will now fancy their prospects of securing a ticket to the last eight at the San Siro in Milan, Italy, next week.
“Disappointing” was how Inter skipper Andrea Ranocchia summed up the outcome, before suggesting all was by no means lost.
“We started well, but our focus is already on the return leg,” he said. “We scored a goal here and want to make sure it counts at the San Siro. We’re making too many stupid mistakes, but we’ve still got 90 minutes to qualify. We’re confident.”
Andre Villas-Boas’ Zenit also have an option on the next round after Axel Witsel and Italian defender Domenco Criscito saw off Torino, who were reduced to 10 men after Marco Benassi’s first-half red card.
“It’s a pity, while we were on level terms we had a firm grip on the game, but the red card for Benassi ruined our plans. It will be a different story in the second leg in our stadium. We still believe,” Torino captain Kamil Glik said.
Dutch champions Ajax go into their second leg against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk trailing 1-0 after the Ukrainians took the first-leg honors thanks to a first-half goal from Roman Zozulya in Kiev.
In Belgium, Club Brugge KV edged Besiktas of Turkey 2-1.
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