The 2013/14 Europa League Round of 16 first legs took place all around Europe on Thursday night.
The last English club left in Europe's second tier club competition, Tottenham, appear to have a difficult task in front of them after they were beaten 3-1 by Benfica at White Hart Lane.
Goals either side of the break from Rodrigo and Luisao had the Eagles in a comfortable position before Christian Eriksen struck for Spurs with a sublime free-kick in the 64th minute.
Just as a draw seemed possible, Tim Sherwood's Tottenham again conceded to Luisao as Jorge Jesus' Portuguese Primeira Liga leaders opened up a strong advantage going into next week's return bout at Estadio da Luz.
In the all-Italian affair, Fiorentina held runaway Serie A leaders Juventus to a 1-1 draw at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.
Arturo Vidal opened the scoring early for the Bianconeri before Mario Gomez equalized late to set up an enthralling second leg at the Stadio Artemi Franchi.
In a clash between two Spanish sides, La Liga strugglers Real Betis caused somewhat of an upset by beating Sevilla 2-0 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan while their rivals Valencia cruised past Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets 3-0 in Sofia.
Portuguese giants FC Porto edged Italy's Napoli 1-0 thanks to Jackson Martinez's 57th-minute effort while Aron Johannsson converted from the penalty spot on the half-hour mark as Dutch club AZ Alkmaar narrowly beat Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala 1-0.
Lyon flew the flag for France in the Europa League by coming from behind to crush the Czech Republic's Viktoria Plzen 4-1 courtesy of a Gueida Fofana brace as FC Basel and Red Bull Salzburg played out a 0-0 draw in Switzerland.
The second legs all take place next Thursday, March 20.
2013/14 UEFA Europa League - Round of 16 first leg
Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL): 0 (red card: Juninho Quixada 80') Valencia (SPN): 3 (Antonio Barragan 5', Federico Cartabia 34', Philippe Senderos 59', red card: Seydou Keita 24') Vasil Levski Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria
FC Porto (POR): 1 (Jackson Martinez 57') Napoli (ITA): 0 Estadio do Dragao, Porto, Portugal
FC Basel (SUI): 0 Red Bull Salzburg (AUT): 0 St Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland
AZ Alkmaar (NED): 1 (Aron Johannsson (p) 29') Anzhi Makhachkala (RUS): 0 AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar, Holland
Lyon (FRA): 4 (Guieda Fofana 12'/70', Alexandre Lacazette 53', Arnolv Mvuemba 61') Viktoria Plzen (CZE): 1 (Tomas Horava 3') Stade de Gerland, Lyon, France
Sevilla (SPN): 0 Real Betis (SPN): 2 (Leo Baptistao 15', Salva Sevilla 77') Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain
Tottenham (ENG): 1 (Christian Eriksen 64') Benfica (POR): 3 (Rodrigo 29', Luisao 58'/84') White Hart Lane, London, England
Juventus (ITA): 1 (Arturo Vidal 3') Fiorentina (ITA): 1 (Mario Gomez 79') Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy
