Europa League title favourites Napoli and Wolfsburg both took big steps towards the quarter-finals on Thursday night while Vitolo scored the fastest goal in the history of the competition for reigning champions Sevilla.
Just 13.21 seconds were on the clock when Vitolo struck, and Sevilla went on to beat Spanish rivals Villarreal 3-1 at El Madrigal in the first leg of their last-16 clash.
Stephane Mbia doubled the visitors' lead in the 26th minute and, although Luciano Vietto pulled one back three minutes after half-time, two minutes later Kevin Gameiro added Sevilla's third.
Gonzalo Higuain was the main man for Napoli as his first European hat-trick guided the Italians to a 3-1 victory over Dinamo Moscow.
Kevin Kuranyi gave the Russians the lead in only the second minute but Higuain headed in his first after 25 minutes to level proceedings.
Six minutes later he put Napoli ahead from the penalty spot following a foul on Dries Mertens and Dinamo's night took another turn for the worse when Roman Zobnin was sent off on his European debut just after half-time.
In the 55th minute Higuain completed the scoring, and his hat-trick, with a well-struck volley.
De Bruyne double downs Inter
The pattern of the match was exactly the same for Wolfsburg, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice in a 3-1 victory over Inter.
The German side were a goal down inside six minutes as Rodrigo Palacio gave the visitors the lead but Naldo levelled in the 28th minute.
De Bruyne's first in the 63rd minute owed much to a horrible mistake from goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo and the midfielder then grabbed the third in the 76th minute with a fine free-kick.
Zenit St Petersburg took a big step towards the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over 10-man Torino - their ninth home victory in a row in the Europa League.
Axel Witsel opened the scoring in the 38th minute for the Russians and Domenico Criscito doubled the advantage eight minutes after the break.
Zenit have now won 12 and drawn one of their last 13 home matches in the competition and Torino were always facing an uphill battle once Marco Benassi picked up his second yellow card only 27 minutes in.
Fiorentina and Roma will go into the second leg of their all-Italian clash level at 1-1.
Josip Ilicic gave Fiorentina the lead in the 17th minute, and goalkeeper Neto preserved it by pushing away Adem Ljajic's 60th-minute penalty.
But Roma were not to be denied and Seydou Keita's header 13 minutes from time gave them the all-important away goal.
Everton, the only English side left in the competition, ground out a 2-1 victory against Dynamo Kiev at Goodison Park.
Oleh Gusev put the visitors in front in the 14th minute but Steven Naismith levelled matters six minutes before half-time and Romelu Lukaku's 82nd-minute penalty won it for Everton.
Danilo Silva's handball allowed Lukaku to roll in the spot-kick, with his seventh goal making him Everton's record European goalscorer.
Club Brugge were another side who turned around a deficit to clinch a home victory, the Belgians defeating Besiktas 2-1.
Gokhan Tore gave the Turkish side the lead a minute after half-time but Tom De Sutter equalised in the 62nd minute and 11 minutes from time Lior Refaelov grabbed the winner from the penalty spot after Felipe Gedoz had been fouled.
Dnipro were also home winners, Roman Zozulya netting the only goal on the half-hour mark in a 1-0 victory over Ajax.