Alkmaar, Netherlands – American striker Jozy Altidore scored 1 win over Malmo on Thursday at AFAS Stadion as the Europa League kicked off its group stage.
Altidore, who joined the Netherlands side from Spain's Villarreal this summer, scored twice in the qualifying stages for AZ and notched his sixth goal in all competitions in the Group G match.
Rasmus Elm, Adam Maher and Brett Holman added goals before the 50th minute, as AZ cruised to the win and moved to the top of the group after the first round of games.
Cleiton Xavier scored in the 79th minute as Metalist Kharkiv rallied to defeat Austria Vienna, 2-1, in the group's other match.
In Group A, Tottenham escaped with a point at PAOK after Lino missed a penalty in a 0-0 draw, while Obafemi Martins sparked Rubin to a 3-0 win at Shamrock in match that both teams missed penalties.
In Group B, Morten Nordstrand converted a penalty kick as FC Copenhagen downed Vorskla Poltava 1-0, and Standard Liege earned a 0-0 draw at Hannover.
In Group C, Dries Mertens scored as PSV Eindhoven edged Legia Warsaw 1-0, and Ovidiu Herea scored as Rapid Bucharest beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 in a game that ended with both teams down a man.
In Group D, Giuseppe Sculli scored in the 70th minute as 10-man Lazio earned a 2-2 tie against Vaslui, and Federico Insua and Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored as Sporting Lisbon beat FC Zurich 2-0.
In Group E, Hugo Almeida scored twice as Besiktas downed Maccabi Tel Aviv 5-1, and Ognjen Vukojevic scored in stoppage time to equal a Cameron Jerome goal as Dynamo Kyiv tied Stoke City 1-1.
In Group F, Nene, Mathieu Bodmer and Jeremy Menez scored as PSG beat Red Bull Salzburg 3-1, and Iker Munain scored the match-winner as Athletic Bilbao edged Slovan Bratislava 2-1.
In Group H, Helder Barbosa scored twice as Braga downed Birmingham 3-1, while Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe and Nabil Dirar scored as Club Brugge beat Mairbor 2-0.
In Group I, Falcao and Diego scored as Atletico Madrid defeated Celtic 2-0 and Antonio Di Natale and Pablo Armero scored as Udinese overcame an early deficit for a 2-1 win over Rennes.
In Group J, Schalke tied Steaua Bucharest 0-0, while Mohammed Gadir scored and Maccabi Haifia edged AEK Larnaca 1-0.
In Group K, Andrew Johnson scored for Fulham but Mark Schwarzer's own goal was enough for Twente to split the points in a 1-1 tie, and Peter Utaka scored the game-winner as Odense beat Wisla Krakow 3-1.
In Group L, Matias Suarez scored a hat trick as Anderlecht defeated AEK Athens 4-1, and Victor Obinna and Dmitri Sychev scored in a two-minute span as Loko Moscow defeated Sturm Graz 2-1.
