Aston Villa secured a 2-1 victory at Basel on Thursday, with goals from Evann Guessand and Youri Tielemans keeping their Europa League campaign on a strong footing.
The result lifted Villa to 15 points, level with Olympique Lyonnais and Midtjylland at the top of the group after six matches. Basel remain below the play-off section with six points.
Villa settled quickly and struck first when a loose ball from a corner fell kindly for Guessand, who finished from close range after 12 minutes.
Basel gradually eased themselves into the match and drew level in the 34th minute, with Flavius Daniliuc poking home after a fine free kick swung in by Xherdan Shaqiri.
Only minutes after coming on, Tielemans found the net for Villa with a composed finish in the 53rd minute to put them ahead again, and they kept the Swiss side at bay for the rest of the match to get all three points.
Lyon's momentum continued with a home 2-1 win against Go Ahead Eagles in a match that erupted into life immediately, with three goals inside the opening 11 minutes. Afonso Moreira struck for the hosts after just three minutes, Milan Smit equalised soon after and Pavel Sulc restored Lyon’s lead before many in the crowd had even settled into their seats.
AS Roma saw off Celtic in Glasgow, led by a first-half double by Evan Ferguson and an own goal by Liam Scales before the break, making it 3-0 to the Italians at the end.
In Bergen, SK Brann suffered a nightmare start against Fenerbahce when Kerem Akturkoglu scored after just five minutes, and midfielder Eivind Helland was shown a straight red soon after, leaving the hosts to play with 10 men. Fenerbahce's Talisca took advantage to get a hat-trick that ended the match 4-0 for the Turkish side.
SC Freiburg also had a numerical advantage at home against RB Salzburg, as the Austrian visitors had Petar Ratkov sent off just before the break. Minutes after the restart, Philipp Lienhart broke the deadlock for Freiburg, who secured a 1-0 win.
Midtjylland go top after beating Genk
Midtjylland extended their strong Europa League form on Thursday with a 1-0 home win over Belgian side K.R.C. Genk to rise to the top of the table.
The Danish side moved to the summit with 15 points from six matches, with the remainder of the round being played later on Thursday. Genk sit just outside the top eight, in the knockout phase play-off positions on 10 points.
Midtjylland scored after 17 minutes when Dario Osorio unleashed a left-footed strike from distance which Genk goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge spilled. Cho Gue-sung reacted sharply, tucking in the loose ball.
The second half was a far quieter affair, with both teams settling into largely passive play with few big chances as the clock ran out.
Arnaud Kalimuendo scored for Nottingham Forest in the 52nd minute in Utrecht but the hosts levelled late on through a Mike van der Hoorn header. Just before stoppage time, Igor Jesus stepped up to snatch the winner, securing a 2-1 victory for the visitors.
Three goals in seven minutes delivered a win for Real Betis at Dinamo Zagreb, starting with an own goal from Sergi Dominguez. Rodrigo Riquelme and Antony added two quick strikes to finish the flurry just before halftime and the match ended 3-1 after a late goal from Niko Galesic.
Braga secured an important 1-0 victory away to Nice, with a first-half strike from Pau Victor proving enough to see them home with all three points.
VfB Stuttgart eased into a 4-1 win at home against Maccabi Tel-Aviv thanks to goals from Lorenz Assignon, Tiago Tomas, Maximilian Mittelstadt and Josha Vagnoman.
Rangers’ struggles in the competition continued despite an early goal by Bojan Miovski putting them ahead at Ferencvaros. In the second half, the hosts turned around the game with goals from Bence Otvos and Barnabas Varga to seal a 2-1 win. Rangers have a single point from the campaign so far.
