LONDON (AP): Ajax thrashed Anderlecht 3-0 to put one foot into the Europa League's last 16, while Villarreal drew 0-0 at in-form Napoli in another first-leg match in the first knockout stage on Thursday.
Toby Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen and Mounir El Hamdaoui scored for 1992 competition winner Ajax in a match between two former champions in Brussels.
Serie A topscorer Edinson Cavani had a goal disallowed for offside and was denied twice by Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez as Napoli, the only Italian team left in Europe's second-tier club competition, was held at San Paolo Stadium.
Sidney Sam's double in second-half injury time helped Bayer Leverkusen to a 4-0 rout of Metalist Kharkiv, Benfica rallied to beat Stuttgart 2-1 at home, and Ukrainian giant Dynamo Kiev won 4-1 at Besiktas.
Alderweireld scored the opener against the team from the country of his birth, heading home a corner in the 33rd minute, and then provided the assist for Eriksen's goal in the 60th.
Marcin Wasilewski missed a penalty for Anderlecht, which won the competition in 1983 when it was called the UEFA Cup, before El Hamdaoui wrapped up victory by beating the offside trap and sweeping in a finish in the 69th.
Cavani has 20 goals in the Italian league this season and five in the Europa League, but he was unable to add to his total against Villarreal, which was fourth in the Primera Liga.
Lopez kept out two efforts from the Uruguay forward in the first half and then tipped over a shot by Ezequiel Lavezzi after the break. "We found out the level we need to play in the competition," Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said. "Considering who we were playing, this isn't a bad result."
Villarreal, which has never won in Italy, wasted its best chance when Borja Valero blasted wide when he had time and space in Napoli's area.
Eren Derdiyok, Gonzalo Castro were the other scorers for Leverkusen, which was second in the Bundesliga behind runaway leader Borussia Dortmund.
Martin Harnik's 21st-minute lob put Stuttgart in front at the Stadium of Light but Oscar Cardozo and Franco Jara scored in the second half to complete Benfica's recovery.
Former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko was one of Kiev's scorers in its thrashing of Besiktas. Ricardo Quaresma canceled out Kiev's opening goal by Ognjen Vukojevic but Shevchenko, Ayila Yussuf and Oleh Gusev's penalty eased the visitors home.
Late strikes by Luuk de Jong and Peter Wisgerhof earned Dutch champion FC Twente a 2-0 win at Rubin Kazan, Artjoms Rudnevs netted the winner for Polish side Lech Poznan in a 1-0 home victory over Braga, and Peguy Luyindula's last-minute strike salvaged Paris Saint-Germain a 2-2 draw at BATE Borisov.
Two-time winner Sevilla's home match against Iberian rival FC Porto was the standout game of the seven last-16 first-leg fixtures to be played later Thursday.
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