Everton 4 - 0 AEK Athens
Everton opened their Europa League Group I account by dismantling outclassed AEK Athens in a game marred by two second-half red cards.
The hosts took an early lead through Joseph Yobo's header and soon added a second as Sylvain Distin poked home.
Stephen Pienaar rifled in a stunning third shortly before the break, with Jo turning sharply to add a late fourth.
AEK had Carlos Araujo red carded after 54 minutes and Louis Saha followed late on for raising his hand to a defender.
Saha barely made contact with the face of AEK defender Juanfran, who made a meal of the incident, in stoppage time but it was right in front of the referee and he had no hesitation in dismissing the French striker.
Araujo, on the other hand, could have had no complaints after he was sent off for kicking out at Distin following a challenge with the French defender.
Everton have a had a sticky start to the Premier League season but from the opening whistle they were a cut above their Greek visitors.
Jack Rodwell and Tim Cahill took control of midfield and with Pienaar looking lively down the right and Jo causing a makeshift AEK defence plenty of problems, it was only a matter of time before the goals started flowing.
Just before kick-off Everton confirmed they had signed Australia captain Lucas Neill and the right-back was in the stands to see two of his new defensive comrades get on the scoresheet inside the opening 17 minutes.
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CSKA Sofia 1 - 1 Fulham
Diomansy Kamara's second-half strike ensured a much-changed Fulham marked their Europa League group stages bow with a precious point at CSKA Sofia.
The Senegalese striker latched on to a ball over the top to round the keeper and slot home as Fulham held off an effervescent Sofia side in Bulgaria.
The hosts had taken the lead when Michel lashed home from 20 yards.
And they could have won it had Fulham keeper David Stockdale not tipped Yordan Todorov's drive over the bar.
A point was always going to be a valuable one for Fulham as they made their first appearance in the group stages of a European competition in the club's history, but Sofia's hussle-and-bustle approach almost ensured the Londoners were forced to make the long trip home with nothing.
As it was, Kamara rounded off a fine individual display with a very well taken goal to reward Fulham's determination and just about justify boss Roy Hodgson's decision to rest nine first-team players.
This time last season, Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill made eight changes for his side's Uefa Cup clash against CSKA Moscow and they subsequently lost 2-0 and were dumped out of the competition.
But that did not deter Hodgson, with only keeper Stockdale and defender John Pantsil surviving from Sunday's Premier League win over Everton.
It did, however, lead to a disjointed opening from the Londoners, and CSKA Sofia were by far the better starters at the Vasil Levski National
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Fulham finished the previous season at the 7th place and reach Europa League. After four rounds in new one, they made 50% record with two wins and same defeats. In the first qualification round, they easy passed Lithuanian side Vetra (both games 3-0), but more problems faced against fourth Russian team Amkar. At the end, 3-1 home win was enough for progress despite the away defeat 0-1. Before the trip to Bulgaria, boss Roy Hodgson surprised the domain audience leaving at home nine players who appear in away win (2-1) over Everton, last Saturday! Goalkeeper David Stockdale and defender John Pantsil are the only players who will probably keep their places. So, chance will be given to some fringe players, like Jonathan Greening, Bjorn Helge Riise, Erik Nevland or Zoltan Gera. Though this team still should be very competitive and English football is miles above the Bulgarian, Fulham don’t have too much experience in UEFA competitions and their previous games showed the focus will be mainly on domain league. Some English clubs successfully played in Europe with the second team, Bolton few years ago for example, but personally I can not see Fulham winning here. And think, they would be fully satisfied with one point from this encounter.
