The early round of fixtures is in the books, and Udinese are now firmly in control of Group I in the UEFA Europa League, thanks to a big 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid. The Spanish side had most of the possession and held firm in defense for much of the match, but Udinese was generally the better side and created a high volume of chances, many of them coming from set piece opportunities. Eventually, they found the breakthrough with a goal by the brilliant Mehdi Benatia in the 88th minute, which was followed by a stoppage time goal by Floro Flores.
UEFA Europa League 2011, Matchday 3: Udinese Triumph, Schalke Win Big, Fulham Fall
Schalke were big winners as well, dropping five goals on AEK Larnaca to go top of Group J. Klass-Jan Huntelaar netted a brace, while Lewis Holtby, Benidict Höwedes, and teenager Julian Draxler added the final goal. English League Championship side Birmingham City got a massive result as well, improbably scoring a 100th (yes, 100th) minute winner through Chris Wood to defeat previously perfect Club Brugge 2-1.
Scoreboard
AZ Alkmaar 2-2 Austria Vienna
Malmo FF 1-4 FC Metalist Kharkiv
Club Brugge 1-2 Birmingham City
NK Maribor 1-1 Braga
Stade Rennes 1-1 Celtic
Udinese 2-0 Atletico Madrid
AEK Larnaca 0-5 Schalke
Maccabi Haifa 5-0 Steaua Bucharest
Odense BK 1-4 FC Twente
Wisla Krakow 1-0 Fulham
Lokomotiv Moscow 3-1 AEK Athens
SK Sturm Graz 0-2 Anderlecht
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