( 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 Dinamo Zagreb . David Silva scores his first goal for the club with Brazilian forward Jo also on target . The other Group A match between Juventus and Patrick Helmes ends in a 2 -3 draw . Patrick Helmes scores a hat-trick for Bayer Leverkusen in their 3 -0 win over Manchester City .