The attractive football preached by Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup was displayed to great effect when the Welsh side stunned 10-man Valencia with a 3-0 away victory in the Europa League on Thursday.
In their first season in European competition for 22 years, English League Cup holders Swansea took advantage of defender Adil Rami's 10th-minute dismissal to run riot in the Group A clash at the Mestalla with goals from Wilfried Bony, Michu and Jonathan De Guzman.
The opening group stage matches produced another shock in Eindhoven where PSV, one of five teams in action who have previously won the UEFA Cup or Europa League, were beaten 2-0 by Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad in Group B. England striker Jermain Defoe struck twice in Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 home Group K win over Tromso, his 19th and 20th goals in Europe for the London club.
Substitute Kevin Gameiro's goal lifted twice UEFA Cup winners Sevilla to a 2-1 win at Estoril in Group H and a second-half goal from Brazilian Hernanes secured Lazio three points with a 1-0 home victory over Legia Warsaw in Group J.
Laudrup, who fielded six Spaniards in his starting line-up -- Valencia only had four -- said Swansea had “dominated from start to finish.
“It could have been more than three and I'm very pleased to beat a club like Valencia,” said the Dane.
In other matches, Spaniard Jonatan Soriano hit a hat-trick for FC Salzburg as the Austrian league leaders thumped Sweden's Elfsborg 4-0 in Group C.
Fiorentina also eased to a 3-0 win at home to Pacos Ferreira in Group E and Rubin Kazan romped to a 5-2 Group D victory over Maribor in Slovenia.