Lech Poznan 2-4 Benfica, Braga 3-0 AEK Athens

Both Benfica and Braga managed to get their Europa League campaigns off to winning starts to boost their chances of making the round of 32.

Benfica were made to work incredibly hard in Poland versus Lech Poznan, battling to a 2-4 victory, while Braga made easy work of Greek outfit AEK Athens at the Quarry, earning an impressive 3-0 win.

Benfica were one of the early kick-offs, and made a strong early start to match, with Pizzi calmly converting from the penalty spot just before the ten-minute mark to get Benfica ahead.

They were quickly pegged back though, with Lech Poznan converting through Ishak after a quarter of an hour, the Swedish international getting onto the end of a grounded cross which swept across the goalline to tap home.

The hosts then nearly took the lead only 8 minutes later, striking the crossbar through a ferocious effort, but it was Benfica that managed to edge in front again just before half time, with Darwin Nunez getting his first of the game with a powerful header.

Once again Poznan brought the game back to level terms, though, just after the second half got underway, Ishak again the goalscorer, nodding the ball home after Vlachodimos could only parry an initial effort. It came only 60 seconds after Darwin missed a great opportunity to increase Benfica’s lead, while Waldschmidt had a shot saved off the line.

But Benfica showed resilience to again take the lead, a fantastic goal from Darwin Nunez making the score 2-3 - though Lech Poznan continued to threaten, and can consider themselves unfortunate to have not found an equaliser.

Instead, it was Benfica who grabbed one more goal to seal all three points right at the death, Nunez rounding off a stunning hattrick by heading the ball into the back of the net on the goalline.

Braga, meanwhile, were part of one of the later kick-offs, welcoming AEK Athens to their famous stadium. It was a slow start, both sides having half chances over the first half an hour, but no clear goalscoring opportunities.

But it was Braga who managed to take the lead just before half time, a perfect Ricardo Esgaio cross met with the head of Birthday boy Galeno, who guided the ball into the back of the net.

From that point forward, almost all the chances fell to Braga - but a lack of clinical finishing allowed AEK to stay in the game, with the scoring still only 1-0 with just over 10 minutes to go.

And AEK did have chances themselves to bring the game back level, most notably in the 63rd minute when they rounded the keeper but couldn’t find the back of the empty net from a tight angle.

But after countless chances for Braga, finally they doubled their advantage in the 78th minute, Paulinho with a well-placed finish, finding the bottom corner in a one-on-one position while under pressure after getting on the end of a well-timed Galeno pass.

Braga then wrapped up the win with a late third, Ricardo Horta sweeping the ball home emphatically to give Braga a comfortable victory - which could have been even larger had Braga had a little more cutting edge in the final third.