Europa League 2014 Results: Group Tables, Final Scores for Matchday 1 Fixtures
The 2014-15 Europa League group stages kicked off on Thursday, and the second tier of European club competition gave us plenty of exciting fixtures to enjoy on Matchday 1.
Several British teams will be active in this year's edition of the tournament, and all of them found some success in their opening matches. Celtic Glasgow earned a well-deserved point against Red Bull Salzburg and Tottenham looked unconvincing in their draw with Partizan, before Everton easily handled Wolfsburg in one of the late fixtures.
Here are the full results for Matchday 1, as well as complete group tables:
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| FT | Apollon Limassol | 3 - 2 | FC Zurich |
| FT | Borussia Monchengladbach | 1 - 1 | Villarreal |
| FT | Club Brugge | 0 - 0 | Torino |
| FT | FC Koebenhavn | 2 - 0 | HJK |
| FT | Besiktas | 1 - 1 | Asteras Tripolis |
| FT | Partizan Beograd | 0 - 0 | Tottenham Hotspur |
| FT | Dinamo Zagreb | 5 - 1 | Astra Giurgiu |
| FT | Salzburg | 2 - 2 | Celtic |
| FT | PSV Eindhoven | 1 - 0 | Estoril |
| FT | Panathinaikos | 1 - 2 | Dinamo Moscow |
| FT | FK Karabakh | 0 - 0 | Saint Etienne |
| FT | Dnipro | 0 - 1 | Inter |
| FT | Sevilla | 2 - 0 | Feyenoord |
| FT | Standard Liege | 2 - 0 | Rijeka |
| FT | Everton | 4 - 1 | Wolfsburg |
| FT | Lille | 1 - 1 | FC Krasnodar |
| FT | SSC Napoli | 3 - 1 | Sparta Prague |
| FT | Young Boys | 5 - 0 | Slovan Bratislava |
| FT | Rio Ave | 0 - 3 | Dynamo Kyiv |
| FT | Steaua Bucuresti | 6 - 0 | AaB |
| FT | Fiorentina | 3 - 0 | Guingamp |
| FT | PAOK Thessaloniki FC | 6 - 1 | Dinamo Minsk |
| FT | Legia Warszawa | 1 - 0 | Lokeren |
| FT | Metalist Kharkiv | 1 - 2 | Trabzonspor |
| 1 | Apollon Limassol | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Borussia Monchengladbach | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Villarreal | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | FC Zurich | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0 |
| 1 | FC Koebenhavn | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Club Brugge | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Torino | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | HJK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| 1 | Asteras Tripolis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | Besiktas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Partizan Beograd | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 2 | Celtic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Salzburg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Astra Giurgiu | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| 1 | Dinamo Moscow | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | PSV Eindhoven | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Panathinaikos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| 4 | Estoril | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 1 | Inter | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | FK Karabakh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Saint Etienne | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Dnipro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 1 | Sevilla | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | Standard Liege | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| 3 | Rijeka | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| 1 | Everton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | FC Krasnodar | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Lille | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Wolfsburg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| 1 | Young Boys | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| 2 | SSC Napoli | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Sparta Prague | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| 4 | Slovan Bratislava | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 |
| 1 | Steaua Bucuresti | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| 2 | Dynamo Kyiv | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Rio Ave | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| 4 | AaB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 0 |
| 1 | PAOK Thessaloniki FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 2 | Fiorentina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Guingamp | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| 4 | Dinamo Minsk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
| 1 | Trabzonspor | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Legia Warszawa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Metalist Kharkiv | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| 4 | Lokeren | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
Tottenham escaped with a point against Partizan, failing to register a single shot on target in their 0-0 draw, as shared by WhoScored.com:
Spurs dominated possession but failed to create much in the attacking third, with Harry Kane blasting the visitors' best chance onto the crossbar in the second minute. Partizan were dangerous on the counter but ran into an excellent defensive unit, led by Jan Vertonghen.
Mauricio Pochettino fielded a starting XI that looked nothing like the team that took on Sunderland in Week 4 of the 2014-15 Premier League, and a lack of fluidity was evident in the attacking third.
As shared by Squawka, the team's shooting chart in the second half looked dreadful:
Kane rued his early miss, but per Tottenham's official Twitter feed, he felt like a draw was a good result:
Celtic twice took the lead against Red Bull Salzburg but couldn't hold on, battling to a 2-2 draw. Wakaso Mubarak and Scott Brown scored for the visitors 15 minutes into each half, with Alan and Jonathan Soriano tying things up for the hosts.
Soriano's goal in the 78th minute was a thing of beauty, a perfect free-kick that gave Craig Gordon no chance. ESPN FC's John Brewin still thought a draw in Austria was an excellent result for the Scots:
Both teams had chances to win it late, but after a spectacular night of football, a draw was a fair result.
Inter Milan needed a late goal from Danilo D'Ambrosio to beat Dnipro 1-0, taking advantage of their man-advantage following Ruslan Rotan's second yellow card.
The Nerazzurri looked far from convincing in Ukraine, nothing like the squad that beat Sassuolo 7-0 in their last Serie A fixture. Di Marzio's David Amoyal thinks that resounding win was more of a fluke than their lackluster performance against Dnipro:
Without the injured Mateo Kovacic, Inter struggled to create chances against a defensive Dnipro squad. The match seemed destined to end in a scoreless draw until Rotan's dismissal, and D'Ambrosio pounced on a poor clearance to give the Italians all three points.
Leighton Baines was the driving force behind Everton's convincing 4-1 win over Wolfsburg, scoring the Toffees' third goal from the spot while being heavily involved in the first two.
The hosts opened the score after a beautiful bit of buildup play ended up coming off Ricardo Rodriguez and into the back of the net, and they doubled their lead through Seamus Coleman, with the assist coming from Baines.
Wolfsburg brought on Nicklas Bendtner in the second half, which was cause for plenty of banter on social media, via Bleacher Report's Michael Cummings:
But while the visitors were the better team after half-time, Everton's lead never appeared to be in real danger, and Kevin Mirallas added a fourth goal late in the match. Rodriguez was able to atone for his earlier mistake, scoring the visitors' only goal and putting the final score on the board.
Elsewhere, Napoli survived an early scare to beat Sparta Prague 3-1 thanks to a Dries Mertens brace, defending champions Sevilla scored twice in the first half to beat Feyenoord and Villarreal and Borussia Monchengladbach shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
Everton and Celtic will look to build on their excellent results from Matchday 1, with the Scots in particular facing a daunting task surviving Group D.
Tottenham are still the favourites in Group C, but Pochettino's men will need to significantly improve their level to finish at the top of the standings and avoid a potential tie against one of the Champions League squads set to enter the competition in the knockout stages.
