Huntelaar leads Schalke beatdown of APOEL; Napoli cruise

By foxsports
Published

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar maintained his impressive scoring record for Schalke in the Europe League with two goals in the German side's 3-0 win at APOEL Nicosia in Group K. Joel Matip was also on target while the Cypriot side had Tomas De Vincenti sent off late on.

Asteras Tripolis and Sparta Prague played out a 1-1 draw in Greece as Pablo Mazza's early goal for the hosts was cancelled out by David Lafata. Monaco equalized in the 85th minute through Lacina Traore to snatch a 1-1 draw at Anderlecht. The Belgians had led since Guillaume Gillet scored in the 11th minute.

Last season's runners-up Dnipro scored an injury-time equalizer to snatch a 1-1 draw against Lazio in Group G. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's 34th-minute effort looked to have secured victory for the Italians in Ukraine but Yevhen Seleznyov had the final word with 94 minutes on the clock.

The other match in the group was also a draw as the clash between Saint-Etienne and Rosenborg ended 2-2. Robert Beric and Tobias Mikkelsen traded early goals and Nolan Roux scored a late equalizer for the French side from the penalty spot after Jonas Svensson put Rosenborg ahead.

Abubakar Oumaru struck twice as Partizan Belgrade claimed a hard-fought 3-2 win over 10-man AZ Alkmaar in Group L. Jop van der Linden kept the Dutch, who had Guus Hupperts sent off, in contention until Andrija Zivkovic made the result certain in the 89th minute. Markus Henriksen scored an injury-time consolation.

There were also goals in the other Group L game as Athletic Bilbao beat Augsburg 3-1 with Aritz Aduriz on the scoresheet twice.

Goals from Birkir Bjarnason and Mohamed Elneny saw Basle come from behind to beat 10-man Fiorentina 2-1 in Group I. Nikola Kalinic gave the Italians an early lead but the game changed after Gonzalo Rodriguez was dismissed.

Lech Poznan's clash with Belenenses ended goalless while, in Group H, Besiktas won 1-0 at Skenderbeu and Sporting Lisbon lost 3-1 at home to Lokomotiv Moscow.

Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens both struck twice as Napoli made a flying start to their Europa League campaign by thrashing Club Brugge 5-0 at Stadio San Paolo.

Callejon opened the scoring after just five minutes and Mertens bagged a brace to make it 3-0 inside 25 minutes. Marek Hamsik added a fourth early in the second half and Callejon completed the Group D rout 13 minutes from time.

Elsewhere in the group, Qabala drew 0-0 with PAOK Salonika. In Group A, Ajax twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Celtic in Amsterdam.

Nir Bitton and Mikael Lustig were on target for the Scottish champions but Viktor Fischer and, in the 84th minute, Lasse Schone scored the Dutch side's equalizers.

Molde survived the late sending off of Mohamed Elyounoussi and a barrage of Fenerbahce chances to claim a 3-1 win in Istanbul. Tommy Hoiland's penalty was cancelled out by Nani late in the first half but Molde hit back again after the break with goals from Elyounoussi and Martin Linnes.

Marseille began in Group F with a 3-0 win at Groningen with goals from Georges-Kevin N'Koudou, Lucas Ocampos and Romain Alessandrini while Braga won 1-0 at Slovan Liberec.

Rapid Vienna beat Villarreal 2-1 in Group E and Viktoria Plzen overcame Dinamo Minsk 2-0.