Defending champions Atlético Madrid kicked off their campaign to retain the Europa League title with a convincing 0-3 win over Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Although Simeone left Falcao and several other key players back in Spain, their replacements were more than up to the task, with Cristian Rodríguez, Diego Costa and Raúl García getting the goals. Last season's losing finalists Athletic Bilbao had more problems than expected though against their lesser known Israeli opponents, Hapoel Kiryat coming away from the San Mamés stadium with a point after a 1-1 draw. Lencse deflected Rochet's shot past Iraizoz to open the scoring, and although Susaeta equalized later in the first half, even the likes of Fernando Llorente were not able to beat keeper Amos after that. Elsewhere Levante got off to a winning start in their first ever group stage game, locally born veteran left back Juanfran getting the only goal following a quickly taken free kick to give his side a 1-0 victory over Helsingborg. (20.09.12)