Europa League

There were mixed fortunes for German clubs in the Europa League on Thursday night, with Hanover 96 registering a win at home over Sevilla and Schalke going down away to HJK Helsinki.

In Hanover, the home team was out to prove it deserved a place in Europe with a convincing 2-0 win over a Sevilla team featuring German international Piotr Trochowski.

A standout performance from midfielder Jan Schlaudraff, who netted two first-half dream goals, underpinned a strong showing from the German club making its first appearance in European competition since 1992-93 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Schlaudraff managed his goals in the sixth and 45th minutes - both examples of fine finishing in the box to leave Sevilla keeper Andres Palop with no chance of keeping the ball out of the goal.

Frederic Kanoute managed to pull one back for the visitors in between Schlaudraff's brace, but the Spaniards were unable to carry the momentum into the second stanza.

Schalke, meanwhile, were stunned 2-0 by Finnish minnows HJK after the German club had registered a confidence-boosting 5-1 demolition of Cologne in the Bundesliga over the weekend.

It was 21-year-old forward Teemu Pukki who did the damage against a Schalke team without Spanish striker Raul.

Pukki opened the scoring in the 18th minute, cutting in from the right flank and unleashing a soaring drive into the far corner with his left foot. The former Sevilla player completed his brace in the 54th minute.

Schalke are now forced to go on the attack in the return leg next week if they have any chance of progressing to the Europa League group stages.

Both teams are to play their second-leg matches next Thursday.

Author: Darren Mara
Editor: Mark Rossman