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LONDON: Harry Kane scored his 200th goal for Tottenham Hotspur in a 3-1 away victory over Ludogorets in the Europa League on Thursday, while AC Milan’s 24-game unbeaten streak ended with a 3-0 loss to Lille at at the San Siro.
Ten-man Benfica came from two goals down to draw 3-3 with Rangers after an equaliser in injury time, and Arsenal had to come from one goal down to beat Norwegian club Molde 4-1 at home for their third straight win.
Leicester City routed Braga 4-0, while Celtic were beaten 4-1 by Sparta Prague in Glasgow.
Also, AS Roma thrashed CFR Cluj 5-0, and La Liga leaders Real Sociedad handed AZ Alkmaar their first defeat halfway through the group stage.
England captain Kane opened the scoring for Jose Mourinho’s side with just 12 minutes on the clock when he headed home Lucas Moura’s corner to bring up his double century of Tottenham goals in his 300th match for the club.
“I’m delighted with that and I probably could have scored a couple more in that 45 minutes,” said Kane. “It’s a great milestone to reach and hopefully there are a few more to come.”
Lucas doubled the lead 20 minutes later. Kane collected a pass from Gareth Bale before setting Lucas up with a pass from the right to net from close range. Claudiu Keseru pulled one back for Ludogorets in the second before Giovani Lo Celso finished it off.
The victory put Spurs top of Group ‘J’ on goal difference with six points from three games after Royal Antwerp lost 1-0 to Austrian side LASK.
Yusuf Yazici scored his second hat-trick in the competition as Lille stunned Milan to halt an unbeaten streak that dated back to last season and included 11 games in this campaign.
After earning a penalty, Yazici sent Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way to put the visitors ahead in the 22nd minute. The Turkish midfielder doubled the lead five minutes into the second half with a shot from outside the area that bounced in front of the keeper.
He completed the scoring three minutes later with a left-foot shot to finish off a counter attack.
Yazici also netted a hat trick in the opening group game, also away at Sparta Prague.
Lukas Julis also scored a hat-trick as Sparta earned their first points of the campaign by upsetting Celtic.
Lille lead Group ‘H’ with seven points, one ahead of Milan.
“I thought we could be more dangerous, but against such a fast team once we went 2-0 behind the game got complicated. They punished us for every mistake,” said Milan coach Stefano Pioli.
Arsenal surprisingly went behind in the 22nd, with Martin Ellingsen unleashed a dipping shot past Bernd Leno from 25 metres.
But two own goals turned the tide for the Gunners.
In first-half injury time, Arsenal launched a quick attack following Molde’s corner with Eddie Nketiah trying to find Joe Willock in the area, only for Kristoffer Haugen to knock the ball into his own net for the equaliser.
Sheriff Sinyan did the same in the second half, this time deflecting in Willock’s cross.
Nicolas Pepe netted with a low shot for Arsenal before Willock capped a strong performance with a goal of his own two minutes from time.
Arsenal lead Group ‘B’ on nine points, three ahead of Molde and six clear of Rapid Vienna who beat bottom side Dundalk 4-3.
Kelechi Iheanacho was the star for Leicester as they made it three wins from three with their 4-0 thumping of Portuguese side Braga in a match that was never in doubt from the moment the Nigerian opened the scoring in the 21st minute.
He collected his second with a long range effort three minutes after the break before providing the low cross for Dennis Praet to tap home the third and end the match as a contest.
James Maddison completed the scoring from close range with 12 minutes remaining as Brendan Rodgers’s went three points ahead of Braga at the top of Group ‘G’. AEK Athens won 4-1 at FC Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine to sit third with three.
Rangers were poised to make it three wins from three in Group ‘D’ when they were 3-1 ahead at Benfica with 14 minutes remaining.
But despite losing Nicolas Otamendi to a straight red card with less than 20 minutes gone, two-time European champions Benfica fought back and in added time levelled when Darwin Nunez raced through and slotted home past Allan McGregor.
The pair are joined on seven points at the top of the group, four ahead of Lech Poznan who beat bottom side Standard Liege 3-1.
In Greece, PAOK bounced back from a goal down with four second-half strikes to defeat Dutch visitors PSV Eindhoven 4-1 and go second in Group ‘E’ on five points, two behind Granada, who won 2-0 at bottom side Omonia Nicosia.
Roma put in their most impressive performance of the Group ‘A’ campaign, Borja Mayoral netting twice for the Italians and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Roger Ibanez and Pedro Rodriguez adding one each. They top the group ahead of Swiss side Young Boys who downed CSKA Sofia 3-0.
There were goals galore in Group ‘C’ with leaders Slavia Prague beating French side Nice 3-2 while second-placed Bayer Leverkusen came back from a goal down to win 4-2 at bottom side Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Cristian Portu scored a second-half goal to give Sociedad a 1-0 victory over Alkmaar, putting both teams on six points in Group ‘F’. Napoli also have six points after coming from a goal down for a 2-1 away win against HNK Rijeka.
A 1-0 home win over Wolfsberg sent Dinamo Zagreb to the top of Group ‘K’ with five points. Feyenoord are second, one point behind after beating CSKA Moscow 3-1.
In Group ‘L’, Hoffenheim blanked Liberec 5-0 to stay perfect. Red Star won 2-1 over Gent to occupy second place, three points back.
In Group ‘I’, Villarreal beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 in a topper delayed by more than one hour due to torrential rain, with Carlos Bacca heading a brace. Sivasspor recorded their first win of the group as they prevailed 1-0 over Qarabag.