London: Shakhtar Donetsk began their defence of European football’s second tier competition with a 4-1 victory at FC Brugge on Thursday on the day the competition itself made history, as it became the first European competition to use five match officials.

Last season’s runner-up Werder Bremen won 3-2 at Portugal’s Nacional.

Four-time European champion Ajax Amsterdam were held to 0-0 at home by Romania’s Timisoara, Hamburg tumbled 3-0 at Rapid Vienna, and Celtic conceded two late goals to go down 2-1 at Hapoel Tel Aviv in the same Group C.

Hertha Berlin was held to 1-1 at home by Latvia’s Ventspils in Group D where Sporting Lisbon began with a 3-2 victory at Dutch club Heerenveen. AS Roma went down 2-0 at Basel in Group E and Lazio conceded two late goals to lose 2-1 at home to Red Bull Salzburg in Group G.

Galatasaray had an impressive 3-1 victory at Panathinaikos in Group F. Genoa tops Group B after a 2-0 victory over Slavia Prague and, in the same group, Valencia was held to 1-1 at Lille.