Europa League round-up: Hat-tricks abound as Dzeko leads Roma rout, while Tottenham stumble in Belgium

The goals continue to flow for Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and AS Roma’s Edin Dzeko as they bag hat-tricks to help their teams take commanding leads in the first legs of their Europa League last 32

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Roma’s Edin Dzeko grabbed a hat-trick in their 4-0 win over Villarreal. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:37am, 17 Feb 2017Updated: 11:16am, 17 Feb 2017

The goals continued to flow for Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and AS Roma’s Edin Dzeko as they bagged hat-tricks to help their teams take commanding leads in the first legs of their Europa League last 32 ties on Thursday.

United swept aside Saint-Etienne 3-0 at Old Trafford and Roma made light work of last season’s semi-finalists Villarreal with a 4-0 win in Spain, leaving their sides with little work to do in next week’s return encounters.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League campaign, however, got off to a frustrating start as they were beaten 1-0 at mid-table Belgian outfit Gent, while Olympique Lyonnais beat AZ Alkmaar 4-1 away and Fiorentina edged Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0.

Gent’s Jeremy Perbet scores the winner against Tottenham Hotspur. Photo: AFP

Dzeko is in a rich vein of form at Roma, who swatted aside a Villarreal team who are in freefall having now won just one of their last 10 games in all competitions.

Emerson Palmieri gave Roma the lead after 32 minutes and then Dzeko took over after the break, netting for the seventh straight game to double the lead in the 65th minute before adding two more goals to take his tally for the campaign to 28.

Spurs, who have dropped into the competition from the Champions League, were off colour throughout in Belgium and were undone in the second half when journeyman French striker Jeremy Perbet stroked home at the second attempt on the hour.

Gent celebrate their win over Tottenham Hotspur. Photo: Reuters