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A Romelu Lukaku hat-trick in a 4-1 win for Everton at Young Boys and a thrilling 3-3 draw between Celtic and Inter Milan ushered in the return of the Europa League as the first knockout stage delivered a glut of goals on Thursday.
Lukaku looked like the dynamic target man Everton fans have been hoping to see all season and could have scored five in a rampant display in the first leg of their last-32 clash in Switzerland.
His perfect treble of right-footed, left-footed and headed goals were among the highlights of a superb end-to-end encounter, that was perhaps only pipped for sheer entertainment by the game at Celtic Park where five of the six goals came in a dramatic opening 45 minutes.
Inter let slip a two-goal lead and then a 3-2 advantage as Celtic levelled in the third minute of stoppage time in a duel between two former European champions.
Napoli were among the other first-leg winners, beating Trabzonspor 4-0 away, and were considerably happier than Serie A rivals AS Roma whose status among the favourites looked questionable after a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Feyenoord.
Liverpool, one of the eight teams to have dropped into the Europa League from the Champions League, needed a late penalty from Mario Balotelli to take a 1-0 first-leg advantage against Turkish side Besiktas.
Sevilla stayed on course to retain their title with a 1-0 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach while Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 at home to Fiorentina.
Elsewhere, Zenit St Petersburg were 1-0 winners at former European champions PSV Eindhoven, Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg won 2-0 at home to Portuguese team Sporting and Torino drew 2-2 with Athletic Bilbao.
Villarreal beat Salzburg 2-1 and Ajax Amsterdam beat Legia Warsaw 1-0.
