In the day's other fixtures, Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb took a big step towards the next stage with a 2-0 win at Georgians Saburtalo and Copenhagen won at Welsh side The New Saints by the same score.
A summary of Thursday's matches in Europe's second tier club football tournament
Red Star Belgrade, who won Europe's premier club competition in 1991, engineered a 2-0 home victory against HJK Helsinki thanks to a Richmond Boakye header and substitute Milan Pavkov's sweeping 90th-minute finish.
The Bavarians, who have won the last seven league titles in Germany, last lifted Europe's top club trophy in 2013.
The three Premier League and three La Liga clubs in the last eight avoided each other, with Manchester City up against Atletico Madrid and Liverpool to face Portuguese side Benfica.
Russia's newest completed World Cup stadium, the Otkrytie Arena, in Moscow, was opened by the country's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Having seen the domestic league and cup double go to Porto last term, Benfica missed a string of chances against PAOK in a one-sided first half as they enjoyed 72% of possession.
Visitors Ajax had looked comfortable after former Southampton winger Tadic set up the first goal with a swerving cross before drilling home the second himself.
A summary of Thursday's matches in the Europa League.
Images from action in the Europa League matches on Thursday.
Romanians Astra handed West Ham United their first competitive defeat at the London Stadium as Slaven Bilic's team were beaten in the Europa League playoffs on Thursday.
Ajax were joined by Young Boys, who stunned Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 away for a 3-2 aggregate win over the Croatians, and AEK Athens who scraped a 1-1 home draw with FC Vidi after a 2-1 win in the first leg in Hungary.
Former European champions Red Star Belgrade, Ajax Amsterdam and Celtic all made it comfortably through to the third qualifying round of the Champions League on Wednesday after surviving away legs.
Ajax, semi-finalists last season, came from behind to beat PAOK 3-2 for a 5-4 aggregate win over the Greeks while Red Star knocked out FC Copenhagen on penalties after a bizarre shootout involving 22 spot-kicks.
Azeri champions Qarabag took a big step towards the playoff round with a 2-1 win at Cypriot side APOEL but Dinamo Zagreb left their progress hanging in the balance after the Croats played out a 1-1 home draw against Hungary's Ferencvaros.
Christian Eriksen kept Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of completing a remarkable salvage job and reaching the last 16 of the Champions League alive with a late winner in his side's 1-0 victory over Inter Milan at Wembley on Wednesday.
Belgian league leaders Antwerp secured a shock 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan extended their unbeaten run to 23 games as they won 3-0 against Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday, while Arsenal cruised to a 3-0 win over Dundalk.
Inter, Liverpool sweating on last-16 spots
The Egyptian becomes the fastest player to score 50 goals for Liverpool, achieving the feat in 65 games.
Poignant ceremonies mark 60th anniversary of Munich air crash
When Vijay Mallya plants a kiss on anyone's cheek it makes for a story and picture, more so when the Virat Kohli is the one at the 'receiving end'. Also, when Michael Schumacher's son, Mick, makes his motor sport debut the picture becomes worth a thousand words. Here again, Rediff.com has these and a lot more exciting events from the week gone by snapped right here.
Supported by his sons and receiving a standing ovation from a 12,000-strong crowd, Serbia midfielder Dejan Stankovic entered retirement as his country's most capped player with a 2-0 victory over Japan in a friendly on Friday.
Last season's runners-up Liverpool, big-spending French league champions Paris St Germain and Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli were thrown together in the pick of the groups while holders Real Madrid must face last season's semi-finalists AS Roma.
Liverpool failed to muster a single shot on target in a Champions League game for the first time since a 1-0 defeat to Benfica in February 2006.
Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic will leave the Premier League club at the end of the season, flagging a move abroad and signalling a possible break-up of Alex Ferguson's last great team at Old Trafford.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Real Madrid are determined to create an intimidating atmosphere for visitors VfL Wolfsburg as they try to overturn a two-goal deficit in Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Arsenal led a list of nine clubs who grabbed a second win in as many games in the Europa League group phase as France striker Olivier Giroud scored his 100th goal for the club in a 4-2 win at BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Paris St Germain revived their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win over Liverpool in Group C on Wednesday, leaving the English club's hopes of reaching the last 16 hanging in the balance.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A list of some of sport's greatest comebacks after Tiger Woods ended an 11-year major championship drought with victory at The Masters on Sunday.
Images from the Champions League matches played on Tuesday
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is willing to put his Champions League ambitions on the back-burner to help the Merseyside club claim their first English league crown in 29 years, the Egyptian forward has said.
'It's like now with Lamela or Vertonghen, how you sit in the chair and cry because you miss someone... But the competition does not allow you to cry. You have to move on quick. It's a bit cruel, but you have to move on and try to win the next game'
A summary of Tuesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Milan replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.
A summary of Tuesday night's matches in the UEFA champions League.
Wayne Rooney's Everton homecoming ended in a 1-0 win over Slovak side Ruzomberok with the former Manchester United striker having a quiet return to Goodison Park in the Europa League, third qualifying round, first-leg on Thursday.
A round-up of Wednesday's league stage matches in the UEFA Champions League.
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