( CNN ) -- Manchester City began their Europa League Group A stage campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday . The Premier League big spenders opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Spanish international David Silva converted his first goal for the club after being set-up by Jo . And Brazilian striker Jo , who is back in favor at the club after spending the last 18 months out on loan , doubled City 's advantage in the second half from close range . The result leaves Roberto Mancini 's side top of the group after the other game in Turin , between Juventus and Polish side Lech Poznan , ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw . Artjoms Rudnevs scored a hat-trick for the visitors `` his final effort coming in injury time `` to earn a fine draw for the visitors , after they had initially wasted a two-goal advantage . Two Gieorgio Chiellini goals and a superb Alessandro Del Piero effort looked to have earned Juventus all three points . There was another hat-trick man in Group B , this time Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrick Helmes was the hero in a 4-0 home win over Rosenborg . Stefan Reinartz was the other player on target for the Bundesliga side . In the other group match , defending champions Atletico Madrid suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat in Greece against Aris Salonika , for whom Spanish striker Javito scored against his compatriots . In Group C , Sporting Lisbon came away from Lille with an impressive 2-1 win courtesy of first half goals from Simon Vukcevic and Helder Postiga . The other match saw Levski Sofia twice come from behind to defeat Belgian side Ghent 3-2 . Group D favorites Villarreal are bottom of the table after their first game , with the Spanish side losing 2-0 at Dinamo Zagreb . The other match between Bruges and PAOK of Greece ended in a 1-1 draw . Dutch side AZ Alkmaar lead Group E after their opening 2-1 home victory over Sheriff Tiraspol , while Dynamo Kiev and BATE Borisov of Belarus shared four goals in the other match in Ukraine . Brazilian striker Vagner Love scored twice for CSKA Moscow in their 3-0 Group F success at Swiss side Lausanne . Meanwhile , the other group match produced a cracker with Sparta Prague edging Italian side Palermo 3-2 in a thrilling affair . There was another hat-trick , this time in Group G , where 2008 winners Zenit St Petersburg won 3-1 at Anderlecht , with Alexander Kerzhakov netting all three for the Russian side . The other group match also ended 3-1 , with AEK Athens defeating Hajduk Split . Bundesliga side Stuttgart are without a point domestically so far this season , but they cruised to a 3-0 Group H win over Young Boys on Thursday . The other group match saw Spanish side Getafe recover from going a goal down to defeat Odense 2-1 . Group I saw the evening 's biggest scorers , with Metalist Kharkiv of Ukraine winning 5-0 at Debrecen . They top the group from PSV Eindhoven and Sampdoria , who drew 1-1 in the other match . A late goal from Nene saw Paris St Germain produce a superb 1-0 victory at Seville in Group J , while a seven-goal thriller saw visitors Borussia Dortmund just edge Karpaty Lviv 4-3 in Ukraine . David Ngog scored twice , one from the penalty spot , as Liverpool eased to a 4-1 win over Steaua Bucharest in Group K , while Napoli and Utrecht played out the only goalless draw of the evening . Finally , in Group L , Porto lead the way after beating Rapid Vienna 3-0 . They head Besiktas , who claimed a last-gasp 1-0 home win over CSKA Sofia .
Manchester City begin Europa League campaign with a 2-0 win at Red Bull Salzburg . The Premier League's top two teams will meet in the last 16 of Europe's elite club competition on Tuesday night as they look to reach their first final since winning it all back in 2008. The other Group A match between Juventus and Lech Poznan ends in a 3-3 draw . Patrick Helmes scores a hat-trick for Bayer Leverkusen in their 4-0 win over Rosenborg .