With the return of the Champions League this week, the Europe League round of 32 swiftly followed with five British teams in action as well as a whole host of other exciting fixtures.
Manchester United showed everyone why they are favourites to win the tournament with a dominant 4-0 win over Real Sociedad.
Bruno Fernandes scored a brace, which was added to by Marcus Rashford and Dan James as United cruised to a comfortable first leg victory.
Fellow English club Spurs also won in emphatic fashion, beating Wolfsberger AC 4-1.
Goals from Brazilian duo Lucas and Carlos Vinicius, as well as strikes from Hueng-Min Son and Gareth Bale, secured the London club a big advantage going into the second leg.
Fellow Londoners, Arsenal, weren’t as successful when they drew 1-1 to Benfica.
Pizzi put the Portuguese club ahead from the penalty spot, but Bukayo Saka equalised with an important away goal for the Gunners just two minutes later.
Like Arsenal, Leicester City could only manage a draw in their first leg tie against Slavia Prague, drawing 0-0 with the Czech team.
Scottish club Rangers featured in a more exciting affair, beating Royal Antwerp 4-3.
Left back Borja Barisic scored a brace, alongside goals from Joe Aribo and former Liverpool winger Ryan Kent to secure victory for Steven Gerrard’s side.
There was another thrilling 4-3 encounter when BSC Young Boys surprisingly beat Bayer Leverkusen.
Despite a double from Patrik Schick and another from Moussa Diaby, the German team were undone by strikes by Christian Fassnacht, Meschak Elia and a Theoson Sibatcheu brace.
Another German club, Hoffenheim, were involved in an exciting 3-3 encounter with Molde FK which included a brace for Israeli striker Mu’nas Dabbur.
Outside favourites for the competition, AC Milan, could only manage a 2-2 draw against Red Star Belgrade.
Theo Hernandez scored from the penalty spot, on top of an own goal from Radovan Pankov as Milan grabbed two crucial away goals.
Elsewhere, Ajax came from behind to beat Lille, with Dusan Tadic and Brian Brobbey netting to overcome Timothy Weah’s opener.
Their Dutch counterparts PSV didn’t fare as well, losing 4-2 to Olympiacos, with former Sunderland midfielder Yann M’Vila amongst those on the scoresheet for the Greek champions.
Edin Dzeko and Borja Mayoral netted for Roma in their first leg triumph, beating Portuguese club Braga 2-0 away from home.
The other Italian side left in the competition, Napoli, suffered a shock 2-0 defeat to Granada.
Two Premier League loanees scored for the Spaniards, with Kenedy and Yangel Herrera (from Chelsea and Manchester City) finding the net.
Other results included Villarreal beating RB Salzburg 2-0, Shakhtar Donetsk winning 2-0 over Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dinamo Zagreb defeating Krasnodar 3-2 and Dynamo Kyiv drawing 1-1 with Club Brugge.
