Sport

Qarabag shock Anderlecht as Di Santo hits hat-trick for Schalke

Franco Di Santo hit a hat-trick for Schalke in the Europa League on Thursday night 
Franco Di Santo hit a hat-trick for Schalke in the Europa League on Thursday night  Franco Di Santo hit a hat-trick for Schalke in the Europa League on Thursday night 

FK QARABAG sprung a surpise in Group J of the Europa League on Thursday night when they defeated Anderlecht 1-0.

Schalke made it two wins from two matches as Franco Di Santo scored a first-half hat-trick in a 4-0 victory against Asteras Tripoli. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar completed the rout in the 84th minute.

Basle, Partizan Belgrade and Lokomotiv Moscow are also on six points after victories on Thursday evening.

Basle and Lokomotiv were both 2-0 winners, against Lech Poznan and Skenderbeu Korce respectively, while Partizan beat Augsburg 3-1 in Germany despite having Aleksandar Subic sent off just after the hour mark.

Fiorentina beat Belenenses 4-0 in Portugal, while there were five goals at the Olympic Stadium in Rome as Lazio edged a 3-2 win against St Etienne, who had Robert Beric and Moustapha Bayal Sall sent off.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk joined Lazio on four points in Group G as they won 1-0 at Rosenborg.

Sparta Prague overcame Apoel Nicosia 2-0 and there was also a home win for AZ Alkmaar as they defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-1.

Besiktas and Sporting Lisbon drew 1-1 in the Turkish capital. 

In Group B, it finished all square as Rubin Kazan and Bordeaux contested a goalless stalemate in Russia. Group A also saw the points shared as Molde and Ajax drew 1-1.

Competition favourites Borussia Dortmund again had to come from behind as they too drew 1-1 in Greece with PAOK Salonika thanks to a strike from Gonzalo Castro. Also in that group, FK Krasnodar defeated FK Qabala 2-1.

Napoli and FC Midtjylland are both sitting pretty on six points at the top of Group D after making it two wins in two matches. Napoli were 2-0 winners at Legia Warsaw while Midtjylland were comfortable 3-1 victors at Club Brugges.

Sporting Braga and Rapid Vienna also have 100 per cent records after 1-0 successes - Braga at home to FC Groningen and Vienna away at Dinamo Minsk.

Villarreal got their first points on the board with a 1-0 home win against Viktoria Plzen, who had Vaclav Prochazka sent off 10 minutes from time, and Slovan Liberec did likewise by recording a surprise 1-0 victory in Marseille thanks to Vladimir Coufal's late goal.