LONDON: Alexis Sanchez scored a stunning goal as Arsenal recovered from a goal down to beat FC Cologne 3-1 after crowd disturbances, while AC Milan’s new signing Andre Silva scored a hat-trick in a rousing 5-1 win at Austria Vienna as the Europa League group stage got underway on Thursday.

Fellow Serie A sides Atalanta and Lazio also won while Portugal’s Vitoria Guimaraes began their match against Salzburg with not a single European player in the team.

Arsenal’s Group ‘H’ match was delayed by an hour as about 20,000 Cologne supporters fans, many without tickets, descended on The Emirates before kick off as their team returned to European competition for the first time in 25 years.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was surprised that the game was eventually played.

Police said four people were arrested for public order offences. About 20,000 Cologne fans came to London, after only 3,000 tickets were allocated to them.

“At some stage I thought they would not play the game, because I can’t see the police taking any risk,” Wenger said. “We live in a society of 100 percent security and I thought they would never take a gamble to play this game when I saw the images around the stadium. But I must say our supporters as well dealt well with the situation as well and there was no aggravation.”

Wenger said Cologne supporters had been “very clever” to enter the stadium undetected.

“I don’t know how they managed to infiltrate our fans and get everywhere but they did that very well,” he said. “I don’t know if they went through Arsenal membership, on the internet ... they did very well.”

There were also scuffles between fans and when the action finally started, Arsenal fell behind to a stunning 40-yard strike by Jhon Cordoba that caught goalkeeper David Ospina out of his area.

Arsenal improved in the second half and substitute Sead Kolasinac volleyed them level before a brilliant goal by Sanchez gave them a 67th-minute lead.

The Chilean cut in from the left flank before curling a sublime effort into the far top corner, and the three points were secure when Hector Bellerin made it 3-1 late on after Theo Walcott’s effort had been saved by Timo Horn.

Wenger’s side are next in European action in a fortnight in Belarus against BATE Borisov, who drew 1-1 at Red Star Belgrade.

Milan’s Portugal forward Silva, signed from Porto in the close season, enjoyed a prolific night as he became the first player to score a European hat-trick for the seven-time European champions since Brazilian Kaka against Anderlecht in 2006.

Hakan Calhanoglu set Milan on their way with a fierce drive in the seventh minute and then set up Silva’s first two goals in the 10th and 20th of the Group ‘D’ game.

“We played quickly, particularly in the first 20 minutes, finishing the game off clinically,” Milan coach Vincenzo Montella said. “This was a big win for us.”

Although Alexandar Bork­ovic’s header reduced the deficit two minutes after the break, Silva completed his treble in the 56th minute after being sent clear by Franck Kessie’s through ball before Suso’s long-range effort after the hour completed the rout.

After three years away, Milan returned to European competition as perhaps the favourites at least until December when eight teams jump in as a result of placing third in a Champions League group. AEK Athens won at Rijeka 2-1 in the other group game.

EVERTON HUMBLED

Atalanta were also impressive, scoring three first-half goals to beat English opponents Everton in Group ‘E’.

The Serie A club — back in Europe after a 26-year absence — were forced to entertain their English visitors in Reggio Emilia, a two-hour drive south of their base in Bergamo, because their own stadium does not have a licence for European games.

But that did not prove a hindrance to Gian Piero Gasperini’s side, who completely overran Everton, scoring all their goals in the first half.

Andrea Masiello tapped the ball in from a corner after 27 minutes before Alejandro Gomez rifled home a shot from the edge of the area in the 41st and Bryan Cristante added the third three minutes later after Everton were caught in possession.

“A lot went wrong. In the first half they showed more aggression, more passion, and that’s really painful because in my opinion it starts with that and then you need quality with the ball,” Everton coach Ronald Koeman told BT Sport. “The commitment and passion they showed in the first half was much stronger than us.”

Olympique Lyonnais were held 1-1 at Apollon Limassol in the group’s other game after Adrian Sardinero Corpa got a last-gasp equaliser for the Cypriots to cancel out Memphis Depay’s 53rd minute penalty.

Braga pulled off a shock in Group ‘C’ by coming from behind to win 2-1 at Hoffenheim, who had beaten German champions Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Sandro Wagner headed in a Pavel Kaderabek cross in the 24th minute to give Hoffenheim the lead but Joao Carlos Teixeira headed the equaliser on the stroke of halftime from a cross by Ricardo Esgaio who also set up the winner for Dyego Sousa five minutes after the break.

In the other game in the group, Ludogorets and Istanbul Basaksehir drew 0-0.

Lazio came from behind to win 3-2 at Vitesse Arnhem in Group ‘K’ to complete a perfect night for three Serie A teams. Murgia scored the winner 15 minutes from time after Ciro Immobile equalised eight minutes earlier, taking his tally for the season to seven in five games in all competitions.

In the group’s other game, Nice thumped Zulte-Waregem 5-1 in Belgium with Alassane Plea scoring the first two goals, followed by a third from Dante and one from Allan Saint-Maximin before maverick striker Mario Balotelli wrapped up the win.

Guimaraes fielded four Brazilians, three Colombians, one Uruguayan, one Peruvian, one Ghanaian and one Ivorian against Salzburg who are in the Europa League again after a 10th successive failure to reach the Champions League.

Brazilian Pedrao put Guimaraes ahead in the Group ‘I’ game before Valon Berisha levelled for the Austrian champions.

The other group game saw Olympique de Marseille beat Turkey’s Konyaspor 1-0 courtesy of a header by Adil Rami from Dimitri Payet’s corner kick.

Zenit St Petersburg enjoyed the biggest win of the night, 5-0 at Macedonian champions Vardar Skopje in Group ‘L’ with Aleksandr Kokorin scoring the first two.

Diego Llorente also bagged a brace, in the other group game, as Real Sociedad crushed Rosenborg 4-0 to extend their fine start to the season, with the team opening La Liga with three wins.

Villarreal beat Astana 3-1 in Spain in Group ‘A’, while Athletic Bilbao drew 0-0 at Hertha Berlin in Group ‘J’.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2017