Sporting Lisbon have put five goals past a hapless Skenderbeu Korce side to register a 5-1 win in their Europa League Group H clash at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
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The Albanian giants found themselves with a mountain to climb after just 24 minutes through the dismissal of Hamdi Salihi, after which penalties by Alberto Aquilani and Fredy Montero put the hosts two goals up at the break.
Matheus Pereira's brace, sandwiched between Tobias Figueiredo's strike, put Sporting in an unassailable position, though Bajram Jashanica did net a consolation a minute from time.
In the same group, Besiktas had to come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw at Lokomotiv Moscow, Maicon putting the Russians in the lead 54 minutes in before Mario Gomez clinched a share of the spoils 10 minutes later.
Fiorentina were handed a shock 2-1 home defeat by Lech Poznan in their Group I meeting at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
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Dawid Kownacki struck just after the hour and Maciej Gajos doubled the visitors' lead eight minutes from time, with Giuseppe Rossi's late reply proving too little too late for the Florence outfit.
The other group game saw another unexpected result as Belenenses secured a 2-1 win away at Basel, Luis Leal cancelling out Michael Lang's strike and Kuca scoring the winner on the stroke of half time.
In Group G, last season's finalists Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk succumbed to a 1-0 home defeat against Saint-Etienne, while Lazio cruised to a relatively straightforward 3-1 win over Rosenborg.
Group J saw Tottenham Hotspur suffer a setback with a 2-1 defeat against Anderlecht, while Monaco took all three points from Qarabag FK thanks to a 1-0 win in the principality.
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Schalke 04 and Sparta Prague shared the spoils thanks to their 2-2 draw in Group K, while APOEL clinched a narrow 2-1 victory against Asteras Tripolis.
In Group L, Augsburg took the points in Alkmaar with a 1-0 win at AZ, while Partizan succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Athletic Bilbao.
Group C, meanwhile, saw just one early kickoff as Borussia Dortmund recorded a straightforward 3-1 win at Qabala.
Results in full (half-time scores in brackets): Qabala 1-3 Dortmund (0-2), Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 0-1 St Etienne (0-1), Lazio 3-1 Rosenborg (1-0), Lokomotiv Moscow 1-1 Besiktas (0-0), Sporting Lisbon 5-1 Skenderbeu (2-0), Basel 1-2 Belenenses (1-2), Fiorentina 1-2 Lech Poznan (0-0), Monaco 1-0 Qarabag FK (0-0), Anderlecht 2-1 Spurs (1-1), APOEL 2-1 Asteras Tripolis (1-1), Schalke 2-2 Sparta Prague (1-0), AZ 0-1 Augsburg (0-1), Partizan 0-2 Athletic Bilbao (0-1)
Giuseppe Labellarte
