The UEFA Europa League group stage started at lightning speed, Slovan Liberec’s Jan Sýkora scoring the competition’s fastest ever goal just 10.69 seconds into the early kick-off, with Feyenoord, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Sassuolo, Zorya and Dundalk all registering notable results thereafter on opening night. Maccabi Tel-Aviv would have joined them had it not been for Zenit’s sensational second-half comeback.
Matchday one results
Qarabağ 2-2 Liberec
Feyenoord 1-0 Manchester United
Zorya 1-1 Fenerbahçe
Young Boys 0-1 Olympiacos
APOEL 2-1 Astana
Mainz 1-1 St-Étienne
Anderlecht 3-1 Gabala
AZ 1-1 Dundalk
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 3-4 Zenit
Plzeň 1-1 Roma
Astra 2-3 Austria Wien
Rapid Wien 3-2 Genk
Sassuolo 3-0 Athletic
Standard Liège 1-1 Celta
Panathinaikos 1-2 Ajax
Konyaspor 0-1 Shakhtar Donetsk
Braga 1-1 Gent
Salzburg 0-1 Krasnodar
Nice 0-1 Schalke
PAOK 0-0 Fiorentina
Internazionale 0-2 Hapoel Beer-Sheva
Southampton 3-0 Sparta Praha
Osmanlıspor 2-0 Steaua
Villarreal 2-1 Zürich
Manchester United, many people’s favourites to lift the trophy in Stockholm in May, began with a loss at Feyenoord but were not the only high-profile club to stumble, Inter humbled 2-0 at home by UEFA group stage debutants Beer-Sheva.
Zenit – three down with 14 minutes left – looked certain to become another major casualty but somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Maccabi.
Beer-Sheva’s fellow first-timers Zorya had to settle for a draw with Fenerbahçe, who equalised in added time, while Dundalk – even with ten men – came from behind to hold AZ and Sassuolo beat Athletic.
Elsewhere, Osmanlıspor coach Mustafa Reşit Akçay made it 19 UEFA club competition games without defeat courtesy of a 2-0 triumph over Steaua.
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