The quarter-final first legs of the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League took place on Thursday night.

In Germany, Napoli all but booked a place in the semi-finals by defeating Wolfsburg 4-1 at the Volkswagen Arena.

Marek Hamsik scored twice while Gonzalo Higuain and Manolo Gabbiadini also hit the back of the net for Rafael Benitez's side.

Nicklas Bendtner grabbed a late consolation for Wolfsburg who will need to improve sharply in Naples next week to stand any chance of progressing to the final four.

Napoli's Serie A rivals Fiorentina are in a strong position to make it two out of four Italian clubs in the next phase by holding Ukraine giants Dynamo Kyiv to a 1-1 draw at the Olympic Stadium.

Jeremain Lens opened the scoring for Dynamo before Khouma Babacar equalized in injury-time to give la Viola a handy away goal ahead of the return bout in Florence.

Sevilla are left flying the flag for Spain in Europe's second tier club competition and gave a good account of themselves by scoring a 2-1 home triumph over Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg.

The Spaniards came from behind courtesy of second-half goals from Carlos Bacca and Denis Suarez after Aleksandr Ryazantsev opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark.

And in Belgium, Club Brugge were held to a 0-0 draw by Ukraine's Dnipro with home goalkeeper Mat Ryan making a couple of brilliant saves to den the visitors.

2014/15 UEFA Europa League - quarter-final first leg

Sevilla (SPN): 2 (Carlos Bacca 73', Denis Suarez 88') Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS): 1 (Aleksandr Ryazantsev 29') Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain

Club Brugge (BEL): 0 Dnipro (UKR): 0 Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium

Dynamo Kyiv (UKR): 1 (Jeremain Lens 36') Fiorentina (ITA): 1 (Khouma Babacar 90+2') Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine

Wolfsburg (GER): 1 (Nicklas Bendtner 80') Napoli (ITA): 4 (Gonzalo Higuain 15', Marek Hamsik 23'/64', Manolo Gabbiadini 77') Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany