LONDON: AC Milan’s offseason spending spree paid a quick dividend when new signing Ricardo Rodriguez scored in a 1-0 win at Romanian side Universitatea Craiova in the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday.

The Switzerland defender’s 44th-minute free kick from the right flank eluded everyone in the penalty area to find the net.

After a three-season absence from European action, Milan have splashed out around 190 million euros ($221.86 million) in strengthening their squad and should advance from the second leg at San Siro next Thursday.

Also in Romania, the son of Brazilian 2002 World Cup winner Rivaldo, known as Rivaldinho, scored from distance in the 54th to level the match and earn Dinamo Bucharest a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao.

Wayne Rooney had a quiet first competitive game for Everton in 13 years after rejo­in­ing his boyhood club from last season’s Europa League winners Manchester United.

England defender Leighton Baines scored the only goal against MFK Ruzomberok, a deflected shot in the 65th, to give Everton a 1-0 lead for the second leg in Slovakia.

Also in a 29-game programme on Thursday, Olympique Marseille forward Valere Germain scored a debut hat-trick after joining from French champions Monaco, as his new team beat Ostend 4-2, while Dutch side PSV Eindhoven suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home by Croatians Osijek.

Second-half goals from Domenico Criscito and Aleksandr Kokorin gave Zenit St Petersburg a 2-0 away win at Israeli side Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv while former European champions Red Star Belgrade beat Sparta Prague 2-0 at home.

Elsewhere, Girondins Bordeaux beat Videoton 2-1 at home and Fenerbahce won 2-1 away at Sturm Graz. It was not all plain sailing for Milan. The tie, played at the 20,000 capacity Muni­cipal stadium in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, was not the most glamorous of comebacks for Milan and was a far cry from their heyday.

But the win still provided a morale-boosting start to the season for the seven-times European champions.

“We couldn’t expect too much this evening,” said Milan coach Vincenzo Montella. “Craiova are ahead of us in fitness terms and they have some quick players. It was predictable that we would suffer and it is something we are going to have to do during the season.

“We are still a team under construction. We had a lot of new players, or players who have barely played for us.”

Rooney had revealed in the build-up to the match at Goodison Park that it had been a lifelong ambition to play for Everton in Europe.

Thirteen years after leaving Merseyside for Old Trafford, Rooney finally fulfilled that ambition although it was a frustrating evening for manager Ronald Koeman and his new-look Everton side.

“It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for the last few weeks,” said 31-year-old Rooney. “It’s obviously great to be at Goodison wearing the blue shirt, it was a great feeling.

“But it was an important game for us so I had to put my emotions to one side. I’ve done that now and can get down to focusing more on the football.”

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017