Greece indefinitely suspended its Superleague soccer fixtures on Monday after the owner of the club PAOK Salonika was filmed wearing a gun holster as he strode onto the pitch to protest about a disallowed goal.
Bruges scored four times in the last 17 minutes to beat Maribor 4-3 in the Europa League on Wednesday while Atletico Madrid and PAOK Salonika were among six teams to qualify for the knockout stage.
Greece's top division on Tuesday opposed the suspension of all Superleague soccer fixtures over crowd trouble, saying it threatened the clubs' very existence.
Rubin Kazan, Udinese, Bruges and AZ Alkmaar qualified for the Europa league knock-out stages on Thursday and will go into the draw for the round of 32 with big guns Manchester United and Manchester City after their Champions League elimination.
Sevilla sneaked into the last 32 of the Europa League on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw at home to Borussia Dortmund as the German side failed to translate their devastating domestic form into European success.
The former Brazil international pulled a groin muscle in Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by PAOK Salonika.
Former European Cup winners Celtic and Ajax Amsterdam safely negotiated tricky Champions League third-round qualifying ties on Wednesday to move one step away from the lucrative group stage.
Atletico Madrid have reached an agreement with Benfica to sign their Argentina midfielder Nicolas Gaitan for 25 million euros ($28.06 million), the La Liga club said on Thursday. The 28-year-old Gaitan, who is under contract at Benfica until June 2019, is currently with the Argentina squad competing at the Copa America. The deal is subject to a medical.
Managerless Tottenham Hotspur face a long trip to Ukraine for a meeting with former boss Juande Ramos after being drawn against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the last 32 of the Europa League.
Tottenham Hotspur exposed the weaknesses in Anzhi Makhachkala's star-shorn squad, winning 2-0 in Moscow to maintain their perfect start in the second round of Europa League group stage matches on Thursday.
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.
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Lazio won 2-0 at Legia Warsaw on Thursday to qualify for the Europa League knockout stages after a tie marred by violence when Italian fans fought with Polish police on the way to the stadium.
Olympique de Marseille were the fall guys on a hectic opening night of Europa League group stage action as German club Eintracht Frankfurt returned from the south of France with a surprise 2-1 victory on Thursday.
Sevilla's love affair with the Europa League was immediately rekindled as last season's champions and three-time winners began this year's group stage with a 2-0 home victory over Feyenoord on Thursday.
Jonatan Soriano's love affair with the Europa League continued as last season's top scorer grabbed a hat-trick on Thursday to help Salzburg become one of four teams to reach the knockout stages.
Olympiakos coach taken to hospital, match abandoned after crowd trouble
IMAGES from Europa League matches played on Thursday.
An inspired Wayne Rooney became Manchester United's all-time leading goalscorer in European competition to ignite their crucial 4-0 trouncing of Feyenoord.
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Chelsea returned to their early-season form to open up a five-point lead in the Premier League, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued to make mincemeat of La Liga defences and Juventus extended their lead in Serie A. In France, Olympique Lyonnais retained top spot with a 2-0 win at RC Lens.
United's Ibrahimovic, Roma's Dzeko find the net thrice to give clubs first leg advantage
La Liga leaders Real Madrid were thumped 4-0 away by city rivals Atletico Madrid to open up the Spanish title race, while Chelsea strengthened their hold on top spot in the English Premier League after a 2-1 win at Aston Villa.
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Stephan El Shaarawy took a small step towards refuelling his career at Monaco when the AC Milan loanee came off the bench to rescue a late 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League's second round of group matches on Thursday.
Here is the round-up of all the football action across Europe on the weekend
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Tottenham Hotspur's Erik Lamela scored a stunning 'rabona' goal to light up Thursday's Europa League ties, wrapping his left boot round the back of his right leg 20 metres out and blasting the ball into the top corner.
Goals from Jan Vertonghen and Jermain Defoe left Tottenham Hotspur on the cusp of the Europa League knockout stages as four other clubs maintained perfect starts on Thursday.