Winning start for Stoke in Europa League

Stoke City opened their Europa League account with a 1-0 victory over Hajduk Split on Thursday, while Fulham drew with Hajduk’s rivals RNK.

A strike from Republic of Ireland international Jonathan Walters three minutes into the third qualifying round match at the Britannia Stadium proved to be the only goal of the game.

And it means Stoke, who qualified for the Europa League as losing finalists in last season’s FA Cup, will take a narrow lead into the second leg, set to be played in Split on August 5.

Fellow English Premier League side Fulham, who reached UEFA’s second-tier continental competition via their domestic fair play ranking, managed a 0-0 draw in their first-leg match away to RNK Split.

La Liga club Atletico Madrid, who defeated Fulham in the inaugural final of the revamped Europa League in 2010, began with a 2-1 win at home to Norwegian outfit Stromsgodset.

Former Arsenal forward Jose Antonio Reyes struck twice in the second half for the hosts, who conceded a goal to Oyvind Storflor with 10 minutes remaining.

Leonard Kweuke bagged a hat-trick as Sparta Prague smashed FK Sarajevo 5-0.

Dinamo Tbilisi were also big winners, coming away from KR Reykjavik with a 4-1 victory.

Slask Wroclaw were held to a 0-0 draw in their match at home to Lokomotiv Sofia, while Irish club Sligo Rovers also managed a goalless draw at Ukrainians Vorskla.

Lokomotiv’s rivals Levski Sofia fared better, recording a 2-1 win at home to Spartak Trnava.

Abdoulrazak Boukhari and Jonathan Pitroipa both claimed a brace as Stade Rennes ran out 5-2 winners at Georgian side Metalurgi Rustavi.

Aalesund eased past Elfsborg 4-0 and Hapoel Tel-Aviv saw off FC Vaduz by the same score-line.

Young Boys of Bern defeated KVC Westerlo 3-1, while Young Boys’ fellow Swiss side FC Thun managed a credible 2-2 draw at Palermo.

Other clubs to win the first leg of their third-round matches included Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Nacional de Madeira and Club Brugge.

Scottish Premier League team Hearts were held 1-1 away to Hungarians Paksi SE.