Gary Neville's Valencia thrash Rapid Vienna in pick of Europa League last-32 ties By PA Sport
Last Updated: 18/02/16 10:50pm
Valencia boss Gary Neville enjoyed the perfect 41st birthday as his side thrashed Rapid Vienna 6-0 in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie. The damage was all done in the first half at the Mestalla as the outstanding Santi Mina struck twice and Daniel Parejo, Alvaro Negredo and Andre Gomes also got on the scoresheet.
Valencia eased off in the second half but substitute Rodrigo added a final gloss with a sixth goal in the 89th minute. The scoreline equalled Steaua Bucharest's record victory in the competition, set 18 months ago. After a troubled start to his management career, this was just the fillip former Manchester United and England defender needed.
And coming on the back of a long-awaited first La Liga win in 13 attempts against Espanyol, Neville can now look ahead to the weekend's La Liga trip to Granada with renewed optimism.
Elsewhere,
reigning Europa League champions Sevilla thrashed Molde 3-0 to all-but book their place in the last 16.
Fernando Llorente struck twice and Kevin Gameiro added a third as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men were blown away.
Fellow Spaniards Villarreal will also defend a first-leg leg after beating Napoli 1-0 at El Madrigal. Denis Suarez - who helped Sevilla win the Europa League last season - came up with the decisive moment when his dipping free-kick beat goalkeeper Jose Rein via the underside of the crossbar.
Goals from Lukasz Piszczek and Marco Reus handed Borussia Dortmund a 2-0 win over Porto. Piszczek put Dortmund on the way to a comfortable victory after just six minutes at Signal Iduna Park and Reus made the result certain 19 minutes from time to leave Porto with an uphill task in Portugal next week.
Bayer Leverkusen beat 10-man Sporting Lisbon 1-0 in the first leg of their last-32 clash away in Portugal. The Germans, who had failed to qualify from the Champions League group stages, took the lead on 26 minutes when Karim Bellarabi swept the ball in at the back post following a deep right wing cross from Tin Jedvaj.
Sporting's task of getting back into the match was made harder on 74 minutes when defender Ruben Semedo collected a second caution for a foul on Bellarabi and was sent off.
Aritz Aduriz scored a stunning 35-yard volley as Athletic Bilbao recorded a 1-0 victory against Marseille at the Stade Velodrome.
The 35-year-old let fly first time from Sabin Merino's knockdown to beat Steve Mandanda with an audacious effort in the 54th minute, leaving Bilbao's Ligue 1 opponents, who have now won just one of their last eight games in front of their home fans in all competitions, stunned.
There was nothing to separate Galatasaray and Lazio as they played out a 1-1 draw in Istanbul.
The Turks, who failed to make it through to the knockout round of the Champions League, were ahead on 12 minutes when Sabri Sarioglu slotted home from 12 yards.
However, Lazio equalised in the 21st minute when Serbian midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic headed in at the far post following a free-kick.
Europa League Round of 32 results
Anderlecht 1-0 Olympiakos
B Dortmund 2-0 Porto
FC Midtjylland 2-1 Man Utd
Fiorentina 1-1 Tottenham
Sevilla 3-0 Molde
Saint-Etienne 3-2 Basel
Villarreal 1-0 Napoli
Augsburg 0-0 Liverpool
FC Sion 1-2 Braga
Galatasaray 1-1 Lazio
Marseille 0-1 Ath. Bilbao
Shakhtar 0-0 Schalke
Sparta Prague 1-0 Krasnodar
Sporting 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Valencia 6-0 Rapid Vienna
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