UEFA Europa League highlights: Top five goals, including Kemar Roofe’s stunner from halfway line for Rangers

The European competitions continued on Thursday with UEFA Europa League’s group stage officially kicking off. There were 24 teams involved in the day’s slate of games which means there were plenty of opportunities for goals to be scored.

The teams involved certainly delivered with 73 being scored among the matches. While only a few could be considered golazos, there were still plenty to choose from, and too many options is never a bad thing.

For those who only want to keep up with the best action of games this season (read as: goals aplenty) there is CBS Sports’ brand new “The Golazo Show.” It is a live whip-around program on Champions League group stage matchdays hosted by Nico Cantor. Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network and CBS All Access.

But with Cantor’s charisma not around to deliver the best goals of the day for Europa League, we’ve decided to compile them all individually here for your viewing pleasure. Here are the top five goals from Thursday’s UEL action.

5. Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Arsenal

The usual Arsenal captain came on to the pitch Thursday and served as a super sub for his squad, scoring the brace that his club needed to complete its comeback over Rapid Wien.

4. Yusuf Tazici, Lille

Lille gave their opponents, Sparta Prague, a proper thrashing on Wednesday with a final 4-0 scoreline. But the goals didn’t come for the French club until the very end of the first half, thanks to this screamer from Tazici.

3. Max-Alain Gradel, Sivasspor

There were goals aplenty in Sivasspor’s Thursday match against Villarreal, and the most amazing one did not come from the eventual winners of the match. Gradel scored an equalizer in the 63rd minute for his squad with a beautiful free kick to knot things up at three goals each. Villarreal would go on to win 5-3.

2. Darwin Machis, Granada

A curling goal from a free kick is one thing, but a curler done on a solo run during live play requires another level of skill that not many have. Thankfully for Granada, Machis did have that talent and was able to put away the curler for his squad’s brace against PSV Eindhoven.

1. Kemar Roofe, Rangers

If you’re going to put away a game for your team, you might as well do it in the most incredible way possible. This is exactly what Roofe did when he launched a beauty from midfield that went over the head of Standard Liege’s keeper, leaving him desperately grasping at air and having to turn around and pick the ball out of the net.