Europa League wrap: United, Valencia take charge

Manchester United started their Europa League campaign with a 2-0 defeat of Ajax Amsterdam on Thursday, while Valencia won 1-0 at Stoke.

Ajax dominated the first 45 minutes but Ashley Young and Javier Hernandez scored the goals for the visitors in a much-improved second half.

Alex Ferguson’s men opened the scoring in the 59th minute.

The home side’s defence failed to clear their defensive area and the ball eventually fell to Young, who cut inside and fired home through the legs of Ajax’s goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer.

The goal sparked end-to-end attacking play, with Hernandez wrapping up United’s victory when he finished off a neat move involving Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney in the 85th minute.

In England, Turkish midfielder Mehmet Topal scored a stunning goal to clinch a 1-0 victory for Valencia against Stoke.

The 25-year-old fired the ball into the top corner in the 36th minute to give the visitors the edge ahead of the round-of-32 second leg in Valencia next week.

Manchester City also won away from home, coming from a goal down at half-time to beat Porto 2-1.

Alvaro Pereira’s own goal and an 85th-minute tap-in from Sergio Aguero won the match for Roberto Mancini’s side, after Porto forward Silvestre Varela finished Hulk’s left-wing cross in the 27th minute.

In Rome, Atletico Madrid cruised to an impressive 3-1 win against Lazio, putting them in prime position to progress to the next round.

Two goals from Radamel Falcao and a neat volley from Adrian inspired the Spaniards to a powerful victory, despite Miroslav Klose’s opener early on for the home side.

It was a good day for visiting teams with seven clubs winning on the road, with Metalist Kharkiv routing Salzburg 4-0 in Austria, Twente overcoming Steaua Bucharest 1-0 and PSV Eindhoven beating Trabzonspor 2-1.

Czech club Viktoria Plzen missed out on a first-leg victory after Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a 75th-minute equaliser to cancel out Vladimir Darida’s first-half volley, while a Felipe Caicedo-inspired Lokomotiv Moscow fought back to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1.

In other first-leg results, Legia Warsaw and Sporting Lisbon played out a 2-2 draw, Hannover beat Brugge 2-1, Wisla Krakow scored a late equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Standard Liege, PAOK drew 0-0 away to Udinese, and AZ Alkmaar held on to win 1-0 at home against Anderlecht.