FORMER TOTTENHAM boss Jose Mourinho enjoyed a winning start with Roma as the Italian side edged out Trabzonspor 2-1 in their Europa Conference League play-off first leg on Thursday.
Mourinho fielded three new signings in his team and it was one of those, Eldor Shomurodov who grabbed the winner.
With 10 minutes left, the Uzbek striker, signed from Genoa in the summer, was the fastest to react when a header from Gianluca Mancini came back off the post.
Lorenzo Pellegrini had given Roma a 55th-minute lead when Henrikh Mkhitaryan, another new arrival, played in the decisive pass.
The Turks were level 10 minutes later when substitute Andreas Cornelius headed in just moments after replacing Gervinho.
“This is not a Conference League level opponent, it felt more like a Champions League play-off,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.
“They have a lot of experienced players. There was pressure and if anyone thought this would be easy, they were mistaken.”
Elsewhere, Colombian striker Luis Sinisterra scored a hat-trick as 1970 European Cup winners Feyenoord trounced Elfsborg of Sweden 5-0.
In the Europa League play-offs, Greek champions Olympiakos closed in on the group stage with a 3-0 home win over Slovan Bratislava.
Mady Camara, Pape Abou Cisse and an own goal from Vasil Bozhikov secured the victory.
Galatasaray, defeated in Champions League qualifying by PSV Eindhoven, drew 1-1 at Randers who were only sixth in the Danish league last season.
Antwerp endured a tough start to their campaign, losing 4-2 at Cypriot champions Omonia Nicosia.
Scottish champions Rangers edged out Alashkert of Armenia 1-0 at Ibrox having played the entire second half with 10 men following a red card for John Lundstram.
UEFA Europa Conference League results on Thursday:
Play-offs
1st leg
Shakhter Karagandy (KAZ) 1 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 2
Qarabag (AZE) 1 Aberdeen (SCO) 0
Flora (EST) 4 Shamrock Rovers (IRL) 2
KuPS Kuopio (FIN) 0 Union Berlin (GER) 4
Rakow Czestochowa (POL) 1 Gent (BEL) 0
Hapoel Be’er Sheva (ISR) 0 Anorthosis Famagusta (CYP) 0
LASK (AUT) 1 St Johnstone (SCO) 1
Neftchi Baku (AZE) 3 Maccabi Haifa (ISR) 3
Riga (LAT) 1 Lincoln Red Imps (GIB) 1
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 2 CSKA Sofia (BUL) 0
Zalgiris (LIT) 2 Bodo/Glimt (NOR) 2
FC Basel (SUI) 3 Hammarby IF (SWE) 1
Fola Esch (LUX) 1 Kairat (KAZ) 4
Trabzonspor (TUR) 1 Roma (ITA) 2
Feyenoord (NED) 5 IF Elfsborg (SWE) 0
FK Jablonec (CZE) 5 MSK Zilina (SVK) 1
PAOK Salonika (GRE) 1 HNK Rijeka (CRO) 1
Rennes (FRA) 2 Rosenborg (NOR) 0
Anderlecht (BEL) 3 Vitesse (NED) 3
Sivasspor (TUR) 1 FC Copenhagen (DEN) 2
Pacos de Ferreira (POR) 1 Tottenham (ENG) 0
Europa League results on Thursday:
Play-off round
1st leg
Omonia (CYP) 4 (Loizou 43, 56, Kakoulis 49, Atiemwen 84-pen) Antwerp (BEL) 2 (Benson 26, Miyoshi 62)
Randers FC (DEN) 1 (Laurenborg 54) Galatasaray (TUR) 1 (Akturkoglu 26)
Slavia Prague (CZE) 2 (Bah 33, Masopust 45+3) Legia Warsaw (POL) 2 (Emreli 20, Juranovic 37)
Mura (SLO) 1 (Skoflek 3) Sturm Graz (AUT) 3 (Jantscher 18-pen, Keteishvili 60, Yeboah 63)
Fenerbahce (TUR) 1 (Gumuskaya 65) HJK (FIN) 0
Olympiakos (GRE) 3 (Camara 37, Cisse 52, Bozhikov 68-og) Slovan Bratislava (SVK) 0
Rangers (SCO) 1 (Morelos 67) Alashkert (ARM) 0
Rapid Vienna (AUT) 3 (Fountas 29, Kara 78, Grull 86) Zorya Luhansk (UKR) 0
