Tottenham, Swansea, Sevilla and Fiorentina all picked up wins in the Europa League playoffs Thursday, with the two English Premier League side smashing five goals each past their opponents.
Spurs, playing in the backdrop of the Gareth Bale transfer to Real Madrid, did all the talking on the pitch, with Roberto Soldado again proving his worth by scoring two goals in a 5-0 rout at Dinamo Tbilisi.
Andros Townsend opened the scoring for Tottenham in the 12th minute, before Paulinho got his first Spurs goal just before halftime. Soldado added a brace in the 58th and 67th minutes with Danny Rose also getting in on the act.
At the Liberty Stadium, Swansea also pretty much had it as easy with Wayne Routledge scoring a brace against Petrolul Ploiest in a 5-1 win.
Michu, Peterson Pecanha (og) and Alejandro Pozuelo were the other scorers with Petrolul grabbing a consolation goal at the death courtesy Gheorghe Grozav.
Sevilla was another team which did not have any problems, putting a foot in the Europa League group stage with a 4-1 win over Slask Wroclaw.
On-loan Chelsea playmaker Marko Marin grabbed a double, with Ivan Rakitic and Kevin Gameiro also finding the back of the net for the Spanish side.
Juan Cuadrado and Mario Gomez were the scorers for Serie A side Fiorentina, with the Italians then just about holding for a 2-1 win after Anat Ngamukol reduced the deficit for Swiss side Grasshoppers.
Real Betis also won with a similar scoreline, thanks to goals from Jorge Molina and Cedricm, but Udinese fell 3-1 to FC Slovan Liberec.
Dutch clubs had mixed results with Feyenoord going down 1-0 at Kuban -- Ibrahim Balde scoring the winner - while AZ Alkmaar eased to a 3-1 win against Atromitos with Johann Gudmundsson grabbing a brace.
Former Arsenal and Chelsea target Jose Salomon Rondon scored both the goals for Russian side Rubin Kazan against Molde while German sides, like the Dutch endured a mixed outing.
Frankfurt defeated Qarabag 2-0 but Stuttgart slumped to a 2-1 loss against Rijeka.
Results: Aktobe 2-3 Dynamo Kyiv; Jablonec 1-2 Real Betis; Dinamo Tbilisi 0-5 Tottenham Hotspur; Kuban Krasnodar 1-0 Feyenoord; Qarabag FK 0-2 Eintracht Frankfurt; Maccabi Haifa FC 2-0 FC Astra; Atromitos FC 1-3 AZ Alkmaar; Minsk 0-2 Standard Liege; Salzburg 5-0 Zalgiris; St Gallen 1-1 Spartak Moscow; Molde FK 0-2 FC Rubin Kazan; Esbjerg 4-3 AS Saint-Etienne; Kalju 1-3 FC Dnipro; Kukes FK 0-2 Trabzonspor; Hafnarfjordur 0-2 Genk; Tromso 2-1 Besiktas; Elfsborg 1-1 FC Nordsjaeland; Pandurii 0-1 SC Braga; Apollon 2-0 Nice; Swansea City 5-1 Petrolul Ploiesti; Maccabi Tel-Aviv; FC Chornomorets Odesa 1-0 KS Skenderbeu; PartizanFK 1-0 FC Thun; RijekaHNK 2-1 VfB Stuttgart; Vojvodina FK 1-1 FC Sheriff; Zulte Waregem 1-1 APOEL; Udinese 1-3 FC Slovan Liberec; Grasshopper Club 1-2 ACF Fiorentina; Rapid Wien 1-0 FC Dila; Sevilla FC 4-1 WKS Slask Wroclaw; Estoril Praia 2-0 FC Pasching.
