Spain’s four teams in the Europa League made a good start Thursday to their round of 32 ties, with holders Sevilla trouncing Molde 3-0, Valencia caning Rapid Vienna 6-0, Athletic Bilbao winning 1-0 at Marseille and Villarreal edging Napoli 1-0.
However, it wasn’t a pleasant night for Manchester United, whose scrappy season continued with a 2-1 defeat at Danish underdogs Midtjylland.
Louis van Gaal’s troubled team took the lead in Denmark through Memphis Depay, only for hard-working Midtjylland to hit back with goals from Pione Sisto and Paul Onuachu.
Things went wrong for United even before the game had begun, when first-choice goalkeeper David de Gea suffered what could be a serious knee injury while warming up, and had to be replaced by Sergio Romero.
“A lot of things are happening in the heads of the players. The first goal is deflected, it is unbelievable, it is too much,” a dejected van Gaal said.
“In the second half we didn’t win any duels. Any second balls. Then you cannot afford a second goal. Jesse Lingard had two remarkable chances. In certain phases we were not very well organised.”
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur did better on their travels with a useful 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. Nacer Chadli gave Spurs the lead from a disputed penalty only for Federico Bernardeschi to level for Fiorentina on the hour.
Fiorentina eliminated Tottenham in the round of 32 last season on a 3-1 aggregate. “Now we have to go to London and win,” Fiorentina’s veteran midfielder Borja Valero said.
“But I really believe that we can do that. They (Tottenham) are a good team, but we saw last season that they are not unbeatable ... We should really have won tonight, with the number of chances that we created.”  
England’s third team in the competition, Liverpool, drew 0-0 at Augsburg.
Holders Sevilla - who won European football’s second trophy in 2006, 2007, 2014 and 2015 - led the Spanish charge by hammering feeble Molde 3-0 with a brace from veteran Fernando Llorente followed by a third goal from supersub Kevin Gameiro.
“The idea tonight was to win without conceding any away goals, and that is exactly what we have done,” Seville coach Unai Emery said.
Emery, who led Sevilla to triumph in the competition in 2014 and 2015, added a note of caution by saying: “This tie is not over yet, by any means.
“We have built up a good lead tonight, but things will not be easy for us in Norway next week.”
Valencia did even better than Sevilla by slaughtering brittle Rapid Vienna 6-0, with a brace from Santi Mina plus other goals from Dani Parejo, Alvaro Negredo, Andre Gomes in a first-half blitz, followed by a final goal at the end from Rodrigo Moreno.
“We have won our last two matches and we are gaining in confidence with each win,” said Negredo.
Also in Spain, Villarreal edged Napoli 1-0 courtesy of a handsome free-kick nine minutes from time from youngster Denis Suarez.
Spain’s fourth team, Athletic Bilbao, won 1-0 at Marseille on a goal from ageless veteran Aritz Aduriz.
In Thursday’s other early games, Borussia Dortmund beat Porto 2-0, Anderlecht edged Olimpiacos 1-0 and Saint-Etienne beat Basel 3-2. Later on, Bayer Leverkusen won 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon, Lazio got a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray, Schalke were held 0-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk.