Everton cruised to a 4-1 win over Wolfsburg, while Tottenham Hotspur were held in a goalless draw at Partizan Belgrade in Thursday's round of Europa League fixtures.
Everton impressed in their first European campaign in five years as they recorded a convincing 4-1 win over German side Wolfsburg at Goodison Park.
An early own goal from Ricardo Rodríguez coupled with strikes from Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines and Kevin Mirallas proved to be too much for the German side, who were only able to score a late consolation through Ricardo Rodríguez despite creating 27 chances in the game.
American goalkeeper Tim Howard was especially superb for Everton as he made a series of excellent saves to deny the likes of Luiz Gustavo, Daniel Caligiuri and Kevin De Bruyne.
The game started with Everton taking the lead in the 15th minute via an own goal from Rodríguez. An excellent passing movement from Steven Naismith, Baines and James McCarthy saw the Scottish striker unleash an effort from 12 yards. Although his effort was blocked on the line by Rodriguez, the ball took a deflection off the defender and sneaked past Diego Benaglio.
Wolfsburg tried to give an immediate reply to the goal as Gustavo fired an effort from 25 yards three minutes later, but the Brazilian's effort was blocked by Howard.
Former Chelsea midfielder De Bruyne got an opportunity to even things in the 34th minute, but his long-range effort was easily saved by the outstanding Everton goalkeeper.
More chances followed in the closing stages of the first half as Romelu Lukaku tested Benaglio with a freekick in the 40th minute, before Daniel Caligiuri fired one wide at the other end a couple of minutes later.
Finally, Roberto Martinez's men doubled their lead through Coleman in the first minute of first half added time. Mirallas' stinging effort was parried away by Benaglio, but the ball found Baines and the left-back sent a cross to Coleman, who made no mistake as he applied the finishing touches from six yards.
After the break, things went from bad to worse for Wolfsburg as they conceded a penalty in the 46th minute following Robin Knoch's challenge on Aiden McGeady inside the box.
Everton's penalty expert Baines stepped up and tripled the home team's advantage with a calm finish into the right corner of the net.
Despite trailing by three goals, Wolfsburg did not give up, as they continued to be a nuisance to Howard, who was tested twice in the 53rd minute.
While Caligiuri's effort, following a good pass from De Bruyne, was awkwardly blocked by the American goalkeeper, he was again brought into action as Gustavo tested him with another shot from the rebound.
Howard made the best save of the game in the 74th minute when he produced a full-length stop to keep out De Bruyne's curling effort.
Despite the German side's continued efforts, it was Everton who again found the net through Mirallas in the 89th minute. Samuel Eto'o released Mirallas and the Belgian made an excellent run into the box, before finding the net with a cool finish.
Howard was finally beaten in the third minute of injury time as Wolfsburg managed to get a consolation through a superb 25-yard freekick from Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Spurs did not do so well in their opening Europa League fixture as they were held to a goalless draw at Partizan Belgrade.
The game started with Spurs nearly breaking the deadlock in the first minute through Harry Kane, who, after collecting the ball from a corner, saw his close-range effort thunder off the crossbar.
Partizan created their first chance of the game in the 25th minute as Danko Lazovic, after latching on to a long throw inside the box, fired an effort from close range. However, Nabil Bentaleb did brilliantly as he made a timely block to deny Lazovic a goal.
The hosts created a final chance on the stroke of halftime when a quick break saw the ball reach Danilo Pantic in a very dangerous position. However, the midfielder was unable to make the chance count as he fired an effort straight at Hugo Lloris.
Partizan got another chance in the opening stages of the second half when Lazovic picked up Petar Grbic in a very good position. But, in the end, the move came to nothing as Grbic's tame effort was easily saved by Lloris.
Mauricio Pochettino introduced Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela after the hour mark to improve Spurs' cutting edge in the final third, but the duo was unable to alter the scoreline as the match finally ended in a goalless stalemate.
Other results: Group A: Apollon Limassol 3-2 FC Zurich, Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Villarreal
Group B: Club Brugge 0-0 Torino, Copenhagen 2-0 HJK Helsinki
Group C: Besiktas 1-1 Asteras Tripolis
Group D: Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 FK Astra Giurgiu, Salzburg 2-2 Celtic
Group E: Panathinaikos 1-2 Dynamo Moscow, PSV Eindhoven 1-0 Estoril
Group F: Dnipro Dniproprtrovsk 0-1 Inter Milan
Group G: Sevilla 2-0 Feyenoord, Standard Liege 2-0 Rijeka
Group H: Lille 1-1 Krasnodar
Group I: BSC Young Boys 5-0 Slovan Bratislava, Napoli 3-1 Sparta Prague
Group J: Rio Ave 0-3 Dynamo Kiev, Steaua Bucuresti 6-0 AaB
Group K: Fiorentina 3-0 Guingamp, POAK Salonika 6-1 Dinamo Minsk
Group L: Legia Warsaw 1-0 KSC Lokeren, Metalist Kharkiv 1-2 Trabzonspor
