Aubameyang scores brace while Willian nets stunner to lead English giants off to winning start
Chelsea maintained its perfect start to the season when Brazil forward Willian scored in a 1-0 Europa League victory at PAOK Thessaloniki on Thursday.
Two goals from Ever Banega and Wissam Ben Yedder led Sevilla, the most successful team in Europa League history, to a 5-1 thrashing of Standard Liege while Eintracht Frankfurt opened its campaign by upsetting Marseille 2-1.
Arsenal, with former Sevilla coach Unai Emery now in charge, defeated Ukraine's Vorskla 4-2 thanks to a double from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and AC Milan edged past Dudelange of Luxembourg 1-0.
Sitting atop the Premier League with five wins from five games, Chelsea rested Eden Hazard after the Belgium playmaker registered a hat trick in a 4-1 win against Cardiff on Saturday.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri made five changes to his starting line-up against PAOK and his dominant team should have scored a hatful of goals.
The out-of-form Alvaro Morata wasted several chances after captain Willian had finished off a speedy counter-attack in the seventh minute following good work from Ross Barkley.
"We played very well, were in control of the match, and it would have been difficult for anybody to play against us this evening," Sarri said.
Also in Group L, BATE Borisov of Belarus won 2-0 at Hungary's Vidi.
SEVILLA ON FIRE
Sevilla shook off two recent defeats to rout Standard Liege 5-1 in its opening group-stage match of the Europa League football championship.
Back in action in a tournament they have won five times, the Andalusians on Thursday seized control from the outset at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium and opened the scoring in the eighth minute on a curving free kick by Ever Banega into the top-right corner of the goal.
But Sevilla's intensity dropped after French midfielder Ibrahim Amadou left the game with an injury in the 15th minute, ceding territory and giving up the equalizer in the 39th minute on a goal by Malian midfielder Moussa Djenepo.
The home side, however, responded with two scores on either side of halftime.
Franco Vazquez fired a left-footed blast off the upright and into the goal in the 41st minute before Wissam Ben Yedder, who tallied 10 goals for Sevilla in last-season's Champions League, scored on a cross from Brazilian defender Guilherme Arana in the 49th minute.
Ben Yedder then made the score 4-1 in the 70th minute when he scored after Banega had gained possession of the ball deep in Standard Liege's territory.
Banega then became the second Sevilla player to score a brace in the 74th minute when he converted a penalty that had been awarded for a foul by Zinho Vanheusden on Vazquez.
AUBAMEYANG'S JOY
Aubameyang opened the scoring for Arsenal against Vorskla in the 32nd minute when he converted an Alex Iwobi cross.
Danny Welbeck headed in a center from Henrikh Mkhitaryan before Aubameyang made it 3-0 with a precise shot from outside the area.
Substitute Mesut Ozil added the fourth goal from close range but Vorskla reduced the arrears thanks to captain Volodymyr Chesnakov and Vyacheslav Sharpar.
For Emery, the Europa League is familiar territory, after he guided Sevilla to its three straight titles earlier this decade.
Also in Group E, Sporting Lisbon scored twice in the second half to sink Qarabag 2-0.
DAVID VS GOLIATH
It was a case of David vs Goliath when seven-time European champion Milan took on Dudelange, the first team from Luxembourg to reach the Europa League group stage.
Dudelange did well to keep out Milan until Gonzalo Higuain struck the only goal of the game in the 59th minute.
Also in Group F, Olympiakos and Betis drew 0-0.
LATE EINTRACHT WINNER
Substitute Luka Jovic struck one minute from time as German Cup winner Eintracht Frankfurt came back from a goal down to defeat last year's Europa League runner-up Marseille 2-1 in a game played behind closed doors in France.
Marseille went ahead in the third minute at the Stade Velodrome as Florian Thauvin crossed from the right for Lucas Ocampos to score.
Frankfurt equalized in the second half through Lucas Torro before Jovic's late winner.
In the other Group H match, Lazio defeated Apollon 2-1.
OTHER GAMES
Rangers, managed by former England midfielder Steven Gerrard, recovered from conceding a first-minute goal to draw 2-2 at Villarreal, while Rapid Vienna beat Spartak Moscow 2-0 in the other Group G game.
In Group I, Genk defeated Malmo 2-0 and Besiktas eased past newcomer Sarpsborg 3-1.
In Group A, Bayer Leverkusen rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 at Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria.
In a matchup between the champions of Scotland and Norway, Celtic beat Rosenborg 1-0. Also in Group B, Fredrik Gulbrandsen scored a minute before the end to give last year's semifinalist Salzburg a 3-2 victory at Leipzig.