Europa League round-up: Liverpool, Roma and Brighton win

Liverpool got a big victory over Toulouse, Roma made it three wins out of three by seeing off Slavia Praha and Brighton triumphed in Europe for the first time in their history against Ajax on a thrilling Matchday 3 in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

UEFA.com rounds up the Thursday-night action.

Liverpool 5-1 Toulouse

Liverpool moved five points clear at the top of Group E with a dominant win.

Diogo Jota skipped through to open the scoring but Thijs Dallinga beat the offside trap to level for the visitors.

Wataru Endo headed his first ever goal for Liverpool and Darwin Núñez picked up a loose ball to smash into the roof of the net.

Núñez then hit the post after rounding goalkeeper Guillaume Restes but Ryan Gravenberch followed up to add the fourth before substitute Mo Salah crashed in a late fifth.

Key stat: Salah has now scored 43 goals for Liverpool in major European competitions, the most by any player for an English club.

Brighton 2-0 Ajax

Brighton achieved a first-ever victory in UEFA competition with a dominant display against four-time European champions Ajax.

João Pedro tapped home from a parried Kaoru Mitoma effort after a patient build-up, then after half-time Ansu Fati finished smartly following Simon Adingra's deft dink into the area.

The Seagulls draw level on four points with second-placed AEK Athens and reach the halfway stage of their debut Europa League campaign with a good chance of progressing from Group B.

Key stat: Ajax failed to register a single shot on target, compared with Brighton's seven.

Olympiacos 2-1 West Ham

Kostas Fortounis's spectacular strike and Rodinei's deflected effort helped Olympiacos secure an impressive and long-awaited group stage win.

Just past the half-hour mark, home skipper Fortounis arrowed a powerful shot past Alphonse Areola, with the hosts doubling the advantage in first-half added time as Rodinei's curler deflected off Angelo Ogbonna.

The Hammers threatened a late comeback when substitute Lucas Paquetá volleyed home, but the Piraeus outfit held on to beat the reigning Europa Conference League champions.

Key stat: OIympiacos clinched their first Europa League victory in 12 matches, since beating Fenerbahçe in November 2021.

Roma 2-0 Slavia Praha

Two early goals enabled Roma to keep up their 100 per cent record in Group G and brought Slavia Praha’s winning start to an end.

First, Edoardo Bove curled in a brilliant opener after just 45 seconds, then Romelu Lukaku drove in a second, with Stephan El Shaarawy assisting both players and also hitting the crossbar.

Key stat: Lukaku’s goal means he has now scored in 14 consecutive Europa League appearances – a sequence, of 18 goals in total, that goes back to the striker's Everton days.

Best of the rest

• Real Betis took control of Group C as their win at Aris Limassol, coupled with Sparta Praha's draw with Rangers, moved them top. Ayoze Pérez's 75th minute goal gave the Spanish side the all-important victory.

• Molde got their first points of this season's competition in stylish fashion with a 5-1 triumph over Häcken in Group H. The Norwegians are hoping to progress past this stage for only the third time in their history.

• Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo hit the first hat-trick of this current Europa League group stage in his team's success at TSC. The Italian is now the four-goal joint-top scorer in the tournament alongside Brighton's João Pedro.

All the Matchday 3 results

Group A: Olympiacos 2-1 West Ham, TSC 1-3 Freiburg 
Group B: Marseille 3-1 AEK Athens, Brighton 2-0 Ajax
Group C: Sparta Praha 0-0 Rangers, Aris Limassol 0-1 Real Betis
Group D: Sturm Graz 2-2 Atalanta, Raków Czestochowa 1-1 Sporting CP 
Group E: Union SG 2-1 LASK, Liverpool 5-1 Toulouse
Group F: Villarreal p-p Maccabi Haifa*, Panathinaikos 1-2 Rennes
Group G: Roma 2-0 Slavia Praha, Sheriff Tiraspol 1-1 Servette
Group H: Molde 5-1 Häcken, Leverkusen 5-1 Qarabağ

*Villarreal vs Maccabi Haifa has been postponed to Wednesday 6 December.

All the Matchday 4 fixtures (9 November)

Group A: Freiburg vs TSC (21:00), West Ham vs Olympiacos (21:00)
Group B: Ajax vs Brighton (18:45), AEK Athens vs Marseille (21:00)
Group C: Real Betis vs Aris Limassol (21:00), Rangers vs Sparta Praha (21:00)
Group D: Atalanta vs Sturm Graz (21:00), Sporting CP vs Raków Czestochowa (21:00)
Group E: LASK vs Union SG (18:45), Toulouse vs Liverpool (18:45)
Group F: Rennes vs Panathinaikos (18:45), Maccabi Haifa vs Villarreal (18:45)
Group G: Servette vs Sheriff Tiraspol (18:45), Slavia Praha vs Roma (18:45)
Group H: Qarabağ vs Leverkusen (18:45), Häcken vs Molde (21:00)