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Europa League: Fiorentina and Villarreal cruise to big victories

Josip Ilicic scores for Fiorentina
Image: Josip Ilicic: Scores for Fiorentina

Fiorentina took control of Europa League Group K with a 3-0 away win at Dinamo Minsk on Thursday.

La Viola, who had beaten French side Guingamp on Matchday One, went ahead through Alberto Aquilani (33) and second-half goals from Josip Ilicic (61) and Federico Bernardeschi (67) secured a comfortable victory.

Guingamp beat PAOK Salonika 2-0 at home with two goals in three minutes at the start of the second half from Sylvain Marveaux (47, 50).

Legia Warsaw maintained their 100 per cent start to Group L with a battling 1-0 away win at Trabzonspor, secured through a first-half goal from Michal Kucharczyk (17).

The other match saw Lokeren defeat Metalist Kharkiv 1-0, Nill De Pauw getting the winner on 74 minutes.

In Group G, it needed a stoppage-time equaliser from substitute Stephane Mbia to earn Europa League holders Sevilla a 2-2 draw at Rijeka.

Iago Aspas (26) put the Spaniards ahead, but they were down to 10 men five minutes into the second half when Timothee Kolodziejczak was shown a straight red for a foul on Andrej Kramaric, who converted the resulting penalty.

Zoran Kvrzic (66) looked to have won it for the Croatians, only for Mbia to sweep in an equaliser during added time.

In Rotterdam, Elvis Manu hit a late winner as Feyenoord beat Standard Liege 2-1 in Rotterdam.

Defender Sven Van Beek (47) headed the hosts in front at the start of the second half, only for Jonathan Viera to equalise on 63 minutes before Manu snatched victory with three minutes left.

Napoli won 2-0 away at Slovan Bratislava to record a second straight win in Group I with goals from Marek Hamsik (35) and substitute Gonzalo Higuain (74).

Sparta Prague beat Young Boys 3-1 at home, helped by a brace from David Lafata while Yury Zhirkov scored deep in stoppage time to give Dinamo Moscow a 1-0 win over PSV Eindhoven.

In Group J, Dynamo Kiev made it two succesive European wins as they beat Steaua Bucharest 3-1 at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, while Danish champions AaB defeated Portuguese side Rio Ave 1-0 at home.

Both of the matches in Group H finished 1-1.

Samuel Eto'o scored a late equaliser for Everton at Krasnodar, while Wolfsburg were held at home by Lille.

Villarreal marched to the top of Group A with a 4-0 thrashing of Apollon Limassol, with two goals each for Gerard Moreno (8 and 82) and Javier Espinosa (44 and 51).

The other tie saw Borussia Monchengladbach held to a 1-1 draw at FC Zurich. Franck Etoundi (22) put the hosts ahead, which was quickly equalised by Havard Nordtveit (25).

Inter Milan made it two wins from two in Group F as the Italians defeated Azerbaijan outfit Karabakh 2-0 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Danilo D'Ambrosio (18) and Mauro Icardi (85) the scorers.

The other match ended goalless between St Etienne and Dnipro.

Nikola Kalinic saw his first-half penalty saved by St Etienne goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier.

Club Brugge are clear at the top of Group B after a 3-0 away win over HJK Helsinki, going ahead through an own goal from Markus Heikkinen (19) which was eventually added to by substitute Tom De Sutter (70) and Laurens De Bock (79).

FC Copenhagen, meanwhile, went down 1-0 at Torino to a dramatic stoppage-time penalty from Fabio Quagliarella.

In Group C, Besiktas left Tottenham with a 1-1 draw following a last-minute penalty by Demba Ba, the former Chelsea striker scored following a handball by Vlad Chiriches. Harry Kane (27) had put the London side ahead with a well-taken first-half goal.

Greeks Asteras Tripolis are now the clear leaders following their 2-0 home win over Partizan Belgrade. Fernando Usero (22) and Facundo Parra (52) settled matters with a goal in each half.

Scottish side Celtic moved to the top of Group D after they beat Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 at Parkhead through a sixth-minute goal from Kris Commons.

Austrian's Red Bull Salzburg beat Astra Giurgiu 2-1 in Romania.

Portugal's Estoril Praia defeated Panathinaikos 2-0 with goals from Kleber (52) and Diogo Amado (66) to leave the Greek side bottom of Group E.

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