Swansea makes winning start in Europa League
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Swansea City made a winning start to its Europa League campaign on Thursday by running out to a 3-0 defeat of 10-man Valencia at the Mestalla.
The home side went down to 10 men just 10 minutes into the match when Adil Rami was sent off for bringing down Wilfried Bony to deny Swansea a scoring opportunity.
The Swans were unable to convert from the ensuing free kick, but they did manage to break the deadlock just four minutes later when Michu's centering pass was met by Bony, who connected with a shot that needed a deflection to get by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Valencia stayed within touching distance of Swansea until the 58th minute when a well-worked move around the box was finished off by Michu firing home a brilliant through ball from Pozuelo.
The dagger for Valencia came in the 62nd minute when Jonathan De Guzman curled home a perfect free kick, placed perfectly in the upper corner.
Swansea climbs to the top of Group A, eclipsing St. Gallen on goal difference after the Swiss side's 2-0 defeat of Russian club Kuban Krasnodar.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Group B, PSV Eindhoven suffered a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Ludogorets while Chornomorets overturned a one-goal deficit to claim a 2-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
In Group C, Jonathan produced a hat trick to lead Red Bull Salzburg to a comfortable 4-0 defeat of Elfsborg and Mushaga Bakenga netted the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time in Esbjerg's 2-1 defeat of Standard Liege.
In Group D, five different scorers helped Rubin Kazan get a 5-2 win at Maribor while Wigan earned a point from a 0-0 draw at Zulte Waregem.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Group E, Fiorentina cruised to a 3-0 win over Pacos Ferreira at the Stadio Artemio Franchi and Ruslan Rotan scored the lone goal in Dnipro's 1-0 victory at Pandurii.
In Group F, Eintracht Frankfurt scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes en route to a 3-0 victory over Bordeaux and Barach Yitzhaki missed a late penalty to see Maccabi Tel Aviv and APOEL play to a 0-0 draw in Israel.
In Group G, Julien Gorius scored to give Racing Genk a 1-0 victory at Dynamo Kyiv while Christian Schneuwly's strike was enough to see FC Thun claim a 1-0 win over Rapid Vienna.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Group H, Vitolo and Kevin Gameiro handed Sevilla a 2-1 win at Estoril and Freiburg was held to a 2-2 draw by Liberec.
In Group I, Portuguese side Guimaraes rolled over Rijeka in a 4-0 home win while Lyon was held by Real Betis in a 0-0 stalemate at the Benito Villamarin.
In Group J, Hernanes produced the lone goal in Lazio's 1-0 defeat of Legia Warsaw and Yusuf Erdogan scored late to see Trabzonspor claim a 2-1 victory at Apollon Limassol.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Group K, Jermain Defoe bagged a brace in Tottenham's 3-0 victory over Tromso at White Hart Lane while Anzhi was held to a 0-0 draw at Sheriff Tiraspol.
And in Group L, Zvonimir Vukic scored in the second minute of stoppage time to lift PAOK to a 2-1 defeat of Shakhter Karagandy while Johann Berg Gudmundsson netted for AZ Alkmaar in a 1-0 win at Maccabi Haifa.