David Ngog scored a double and Joe Cole scored his first goal for Liverpool as the Reds beat Steaua Bucharest 4-1 in the Europa League on Thursday night.

The midfielder had the honour of firing home the club’s fastest ever goal in European competition on 27 seconds before Ngog (penalty) and substitute Lucas Leiva put them back in the driving seat after Cristian Tanase had levelled with a sublime first-half finish.

Ngog then put the icing on the cake with a well taken fourth in injury-time to take his tally to six for the season so far.

It means Liverpool have opened their Group K account with an important victory and also sees Hodgson become the first Reds manager in history to win his first five European games.

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The troubled English club Aston Villa’s woes continued as they were dumped out of the Europa League with Scottish hopes also suffering a triple wipeout.

Villa, who saw Martin O’Neill quit as coach on the eve of the Premier League kick-off and James Milner sold to Manchester City, were beaten 3-2 by Rapid Vienna in their play-off second leg.

That gave the Austrians a 4-3 aggregate win to follow up their victory over the Midlanders in last season’s tournament.

Villa twice led on Thursday and also missed a penalty as they joined the Scottish trio of Celtic, Dundee United and Motherwell in being forced to write off their European hopes for another season.

Liverpool and Manchester City were left as Britain’s only representatives in Friday’s draw for the group stages of Europe’s second tier tournament.

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Liverpool beat Turkish club Trabzonspor 1 – 0 in the Europa League playoff round first leg at Anfield, with Joe Cole missing a penalty which could’ve helped his side to a better lead.

On a night featuring 35 ties littered with some of the biggest names in European club football and many obscure ones trying to make a name for themselves, Liverpool gained a narrow advantage to take to Turkey next week when the winners on aggregate will move into 48-team group phase.

Italian giants Juventus, who like Liverpool find themselves chasing silverware in the continent’s secondary competition after failing to qualify for the Champions League, sneaked a 2-1 victory in Austria against Sturm Graz.

Porto, CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Paris St Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Celtic all scored comfortable first leg victories while big-spending Manchester City got their European season up and running with a 1-0 away victory against Romanian side FC Timisoara — Mario Balotelli scoring on his debut after signing last week from Inter Milan.

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Liverpool, Juventus and Manchester City are the three top-rank teams of the Europa League that are hoping to avoid an early blow to their European ambitions on Thursday.

A welter of high-profile clubs from across the continent will compete in the first-leg matches of the tournament’s play-off round, all gunning for one of 37 slots in the group phase alongside defending champions Atletico Madrid.

Roy Hodgson was on the losing side in last year’s final after leading Fulham to a surprise appearance in the decider, but the experienced English coach has since jumped ship to Liverpool.

His new employers continue their assault on this season’s competition against Trabzonspor, and Hodgson said he will select holding midfielder Javier Mascherano to face the Turkish side despite his desire to leave the club.

“Of course I would play him on Thursday,” said Hodgson, whose side drew 1-1 at home to Arsenal in their Premier League opener on Sunday.

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Atletico Madrid won the inaugural final of the Europa League 2 – 1 over Fulham as Diego Forlan struck an extra-time goal.

Having already scored the crucial goal at Anfield that knocked Liverpool out at the semi-final stage, Forlan was on target in the first half and then slipped his marker to score in the 116th minute to send the title to Madrid.

“I am very happy that my goals helped the team, it is good to have the golden shoe, but it is better to win titles with the team,” said the 30-year-old, who won the European Golden Boot for the second time last season.

“I just hope the volcano allows us to get home safely now and that Madrid will dress in red and white when we get back.”

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Athletico Madrid reached the Europa League final with a Diego Forlan goal in extra time to boot Liverpool out of the competition.

The former Manchester United forward, who hit the only goal in the first leg, stabbed home the crucial extra-time away goal which booked their place in May’s final despite a 2-1 defeat on the night at Anfield.

Alberto Aquilani’s 44th-minute strike had ensured the game went into the additional 30 minutes and despite Yossi Benayoun putting his side ahead, Forlan – much derided during his time in English football – had the last word.

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Liverpool beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 in Bucharest last night in their Europa League match with goals from  Javier Mascherano, Ryan Babel and Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez made two changes two his side that drew 0-0 with Man City at Eastlands on Sunday, bringing in Yossi Benayoun to replace cup-tied Maxi Rodriguez and young French striker David N’gog was given a start, replacing Dirk Kuyt.

It was the home side who had the first attempt, with Sorin Frunza seeing his shot from just outside the box fizz over the bar after Liverpool had failed to deal with an Unirea free-kick.

However Liverpool were quick to respond with captain Steven Gerrard forcing Unirea goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis to make a save.

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