Kewell Strikes For Gala

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Harry Kewell kicked off his goals tally for the season as Galatasaray comfortably beat Maccabi Netanya 4-1 on Thursday night in the Europa League qualifiers.

The 30-year-old Socceroo scored just minutes into the second-half with a tidy right-foot volley after scores were deadlocked at 1-1 at the break.

Twenty-five minutes into the contest Maccabi's Dela Yampolsky gave the Israeli club a surprise lead when he headed in from a corner, only for Galatasaray's Hakan Balta to do the same down the other end five minutes later.

Kewell was in a menacing mood with a few efforts going close, including a 33rd minute chance when he darted in front of his marker only to header a close-range chance wide.

But the ex-Liverpool man wouldn't be denied on 47 minutes, when Arda Turan set Aydin Yilmaz free on the right before his deflected cross reached Kewell who controlled the ball and then fired a right-foot shot into the back of the net.

Five minutes later Arda Turan set up Sabri Sanoglu to ram home Cimbom's advantage and all but wrap up a spot in the next round of the Europa League for the Turkish club.

After Kewell was substituted just after the hour mark, Milan Baros grabbed Galatasaray's fourth with a neat header from another Arda Turan assist.

Galatasaray can now look forward to hosting the return leg against Maccabi Netanya on August 6 with a comfortable advantage in the tie.

Elsewhere in Thursday night's Europa League qualifiers, Scott Chipperfield scored on his return from injury for FC Basel as they fought back from a two goal deficit to draw 2-2 with KR Reykjavik.

Mark Schwarzer didn't have alot to do as Fulham eased past Vetra Vilnius 3-0 in Lithuania courtesy of goals from Bobby Zamora, Danny Murphy and Seol Ki-Hyeon.

Ante Covic's Swedish Allsvenskan leaders IF Elfsborg recorded an impressive 2-1 away win at Portuguese club Sporting Braga, with the Aussie playing a full game.

Josip Skoko helped Hajduk Split claim a decent 1-1 away draw against MSK Zilina, while Kasey Wehrman had a night to forget as Fredrikstad FK were thumped 6-1 at home by Polish club Lech Poznan. Finally, Mark Rudan's FC Vaduz lost 1-0 to Slovan Liberec in Liechtenstein.