Football
ESPN staff 10y

Everton and Inter Milan begin their Europa League campaigns with wins

Everton opened their Europa League campaign with a commanding 4-1 victory over Wolfsburg at Goodison Park on Thursday.

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Both teams were playing in Europe for the first time in five seasons but the hosts were the more clinical and, after an own goal from Ricardo Rodriguez in the 15th minute, Seamus Coleman netted just before halftime and Leighton Baines fired in a 48th-minute penalty.

Tim Howard was the busiest player on the park in the second half but Kevin Mirallas rubbed salt in Wolfsburg's wounds with a fourth before Rodriguez atoned for the own goal by finally beating the Everton keeper with a terrific free-kick.

Also in Group H, Lille drew 1-1 with Russian side Krasnodar.

Inter Milan began with a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Group E.

Inter defender Danilo D'Ambrosio scored moments after Dnipro captain Ruslan Rotan was sent off for a second yellow card. D'Ambrosio latched onto Artem Fedetskiy's botched clearance and fired powerfully past goalkeeper Denys Boyko in the 71st minute.

Inter top Group F after Saint-Etienne's 0-0 draw away to Azerbaijan side Qarabag.

Europa League defending champions Sevilla won 2-0 against Feyenoord, taking control with first-half goals from midfielders Grzegorz Krychowiak and Stephane Mbia.

They are level at the top of Group G with Standard Liege, who beat Rijeka of Croatia 2-0.

In Group C, the favourites dropped points as Premier League side Tottenham were held 0-0 away to Partizan Belgrade, and Besitkas drew 1-1 against Asteras Tripolis.

Belgian winger Dries Mertens scored twice as Napoli rallied to beat Sparta Prague 3-1, with Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain equalising from the penalty spot before setting up Mertens' first.

But Napoli are second in Group I because Swiss side Young Boys routed Slovan Bratislava 5-0.

Group E rivals Dynamo Moscow and PSV Eindhoven also won.

Forward Aleksandr Kokorin and midfielder Aleksei Ionov scored Dynamo Moscow's goals in a 2-1 win at Panathinaikos, while a penalty from Dutch striker Luuk de Jong earned PSV a 1-0 home win against Estoril.

In Group A, Borussia Monchengladbach were held 1-1 at home by Villarreal. Substitute Ikechukwu Uche struck a second-half equaliser after Patrick Hermann hit his first European goal in the 21st minute to give the home side the advantage.

An own goal from Zurich defender Philippe Koch handed Apollon Limassol a 3-2 victory in their Group A opener as both sides finished with 10 men.

In Group D, Celtic drew 2-2 at Salzburg despite leading twice. Ghanaian winger Mubarak Wakaso scored on his Celtic debut, and Brazilian striker Alan levelled shortly before the break. Midfielder Scott Brown put Celtic back in front after an hour with a deflected volley, only for forward Jonatan Soriano to equalise with a well-struck free kick.

Algeria striker El Arbi Hilal Soudani scored a first-half hat trick as Dinamo Zagreb thrashed Hungarian side Astra 5-1 to take top spot in Group D.

Romania forward Claudiu Keseru also got three as Steaua Bucharest thrashed Aalborg 6-0 to take first spot in Group J ahead of Dynamo Kiev, who won 3-0 away to Rio Ave. Ukraine winger Andriy Yarmolenko, midfielder Younes Belhanda and striker Artem Kravets got a goal each for the visitors.

Fiorentina beat French Cup winners Guingamp 3-0, with all the goals scored by wingers. Juan Vargas headed in Jasmin Kurtic's cross in the first half and Juan Cuadrado lashed in David Pizarro's well-weighted pass midway through the second. Federico Bernardeschi completed the scoring late on.

In the other match in Group K, PAOK dominated Dinamo Minsk 6-1, thanks to a hat-trick from Stefanos Athanasiadis.

In Group B, Nicolai Jorgensen scored twice as Copenhagen beat Finland's HJK 2-0 , while Torino couldn't break down Club Brugge in a 0-0 draw in Belgium.

Trabzonspor lead Group L after Avraam Papadopoulos scored against Metalist Kharkiv in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time for a 2-1 win, while Miroslav Radovic lifted Legia Warsaw by Lokeren 1-0.

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