LONDON-- Borussia Dortmund and Napoli were the headline acts to qualify for the Europa League knockout stage as both sides plundered a glut of goals in Thursday's early group matches.
  Dortmund brushed aside Azerbaijani outfit FK Qabala 4-0 in Germany while Napoli went one better with a 5-0 home thrashing of Danish side Midtjylland.
  They will be joined in the last 32 by Molde, who beat former European champions Celtic 2-1 away and Rapid Vienna, who won by the same score at Viktoria Plzen.
  Braga and Sion, however, will have to wait after missing out on the chance of moving forward with two group matches to spare.
  There were some superb finishes to savour as Dortmund eased past Qabala with Germany forward Marco Reus scoring first with an unstoppable low drive after 28 minutes to ensure the Germans had found the net in each of their last 31 competitive games.
  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubled the lead with a left-foot effort before halftime and a Sergei Zenjov own goal made it 3-0.
  Henrikh Mkhitaryan rounded off the scoring with a shot that thundered into the net off the bar with 20 minutes remaining, leaving Dortmund top of Group C with 10 points.
  Napoli waltzed into the knockout rounds and equalled their record European victory with goals from Omar El Kaddouri, a Manolo Gabbiadini double, Christian Maggio and Jose Callejon.
  The Italians are now unbeaten in 14 matches across all competitions and sit top of Group D with an unblemished 12 points from their four games.
  Mohamed Elyounoussi and the 40-year-old Daniel Hestad were on target for Norwegian champions Molde as they extended their Group A lead and secured their spot in knockout stage.
  There were also celebrations for Rapid Vienna who scored a goal in each half through Philipp Schobesberger to beat Plzen and maintain their 100 percent record in Group E.
  New Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp made it three wins from his last three matches with a 1-0 success at Rubin Kazan in Russia that left them second in Group B, two points behind Sion.
  Jordon Ibe netted his first goal for Liverpool, latching on to a neat pass from Roberto Firmino to power into the penalty area and fire right-footed into the bottom corner.
  Sion had the chance to secure an early spot in the last 32 with a win over Girondins Bordeaux, but needed a 94th-minute own goal from Clement Chantome to snatch a 1-1 draw.
  Braga were also denied an early qualification party as they suffered their first defeat in 10 games and lost their 100 percent record in Group F after a 1-0 defeat at Olympique de Marseille with Georges-Kevin N'Koudou scoring in the 39th.

PARIS-- Lamine Diack, the former head of world athletics, has been placed under formal investigation in France on suspicion of corruption and money laundering following a complaint from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The inquiry, confirmed by the French financial prosecutor's office on Wednesday, comes at a time when the image of world sport's governing bodies is under serious scrutiny. There is a large-scale corruption investigation at soccer's FIFA while athletics is fighting a desperate public relations rearguard battle in the face of continual doping issues.
According to French news channel iTELE, the investigation is focused on suspicions that payments were made in return for not revealing widespread doping of Russian athletes.
The prosecutor's office did not confirm that but said its investigation started when WADA alerted it to "acts of corruption and laundering involving members of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)."
WADA said it would hold a press conference on Monday to discuss the issues and added in a statement: "These investigations are a result of information passed on by WADA's Independent Commission (IC) to the relevant authorities."
Diack, from Senegal and an ex-long jumper who was born in 1933, headed the IAAF for the best part of a decade from 1999. He was held for questioning on Sunday together with his legal adviser Habib Cisse, who was also placed under formal inquiry on Tuesday.
Under French law, magistrates place a person under formal investigation when they believe there are indications of wrongdoing, but that does not always lead to a trial.
The investigation "concerns money movements and goes beyond doping", a source in the French judiciary said.
The Monaco-based IAAF confirmed a police swoop took place at its headquarters on Tuesday "to carry out interviews and access documentation". It said it was fully cooperating with the probe.
The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) chief ethics and compliance officer Paquerette Zappelli said: "In light of the criminal investigation against Mr Lamine Diack, who is an IOC honorary member, I have decided to refer this case to the IOC's Ethics Commission."
Diack's son, Papa Massata Diack, stepped down from his role as an IAAF marketing consultant last year during an investigation into allegations of doping in Russia.
The head of Russia's Athletics Federation (VFLA), Valentin Balakhnichev, has also resigned from his role as IAAF treasurer. Dr Gabriel Dolle, the director of the IAAF medical and anti-doping department, also left the federation.
Nikita Kamaev of Russia's anti-doping agency RUSADA said in an interview with the Russian R-Sport news agency that his organisation was ready to help French investigators if contacted and Russian sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told the TASS agency that his country's athletics federation had cleaned up its act.
"We have already said that there were problems with our federation, but the old management are no longer working there," he said. "You have to understand that now there are a lot of criminal cases around the world, and it is not an easy situation to be in."
A doctor in charge of anti-doping matters at the IAAF was also held for questioning in addition to Diack and Cisse.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the three men for comment.
An IOC spokesman said: "The International Olympic Committee is standing for clean sports and good governance. It is therefore following these ongoing inquiries very closely and awaits the full facts coming to light."
The IAAF's new British president, Sebastian Coe, was at IAAF headquarters at the time of the police raid and "volunteered himself to answer any questions", a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.
"He answered any questions they wanted," the source said. "But they did not come here to question Seb Coe."
Coe, a two-time Olympic 1,500-metres champion elected IAAF president in August, was not immediately available for comment.
Elected on a strong anti-doping platform, Coe said this week in India: "It's not uniquely a track and field problem. Every sport in the world has global issues. We have them but we also resolve them."

MUNICH-- Bayern Munich dismantled Arsenal 5-1 in Champions League Group F on Wednesday after a sensational first-half performance to close on the knockout stages with two matches left.
The Bavarians, who struck three times in the first half through Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller and David Alaba, avenged their 2-0 loss in London last month -- their only defeat this season -- with a dominant performance that underlined their title aspirations.
Substitute Arjen Robben, making his first appearance in the competition this season after a long injury break, added a fourth soon after coming on in the 55th minute and Mueller grabbed a late fifth. Bayern top the group on nine points.
Injury-hit Arsenal, woeful at the back and toothless up front, pulled a goal back through Olivier Giroud but are bottom on three points after their third loss, behind Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb.
Arsenal need to win their remaining two games to maintain their slim chances of reaching the last 16.
Lewandowski, who had never scored against keeper Petr Cech, headed the hosts into the lead with the Poland striker, top scorer in the Bundesliga, beating the off-side trap to score his fourth goal in the competition with a glancing header from a Thiago cross.
The 33-year-old Czech keeper, who had denied Lewandowski with two superb saves in London, could do nothing as the striker made a clever move to wrongfoot defenders and was completely unmarked in front of goal.
A minute later Arsenal's Mesut Ozil put the ball in the Bayern net but it was ruled for hand ball with the Germany international booked.
With Bayern setting a frantic pace in the first half quick wingers Kingsley Coman and Douglas Costa kept slicing through with the Arsenal defenders' heads spinning as Lewandowski kept Cech busy.
It did not take long for Bayern to score again as Mueller drilled in his third goal of the campaign with a deflected shot on the half hour.
Bayern kept up the pressure and Mueller forced another good save from Cech before Alaba's 20-metre effort gave the keeper no chance just before the break.
Coach Pep Guardiola brought on Robben early in the second half and the Dutchman, a crowd favourite, delivered instantly, killing off the game 37 seconds later with his first touch from an Alaba cutback.
Giroud scored for Arsenal in the 70th with a fine first touch and flying volley for his seventh goal in his last seven games but it came too late to change anything for the English club and Mueller completed Bayern's rout.

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands-- Juergen Locadia and Luuk de Jong scored second-half goals as PSV Eindhoven secured a 2-0 Champions League victory at home against VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday to blow Group B wide open.
  The win moves PSV into second place, level with Wolfsburg on six points from four matches, but ahead of the Germans on goals scored with their head-to-head record identical.
  They are one point behind leaders Manchester United, 1-0 winners at home to CSKA Moscow, who are bottom on four points.
  The first half was short on goalmouth action but was played at pace, as the home side took the game to Wolfsburg after successive losses on previous matchdays, including a 2-0 defeat in Germany a fortnight ago.
  Locadia forced a fine low save from visiting keeper Diego Benaglio late in the half after Wolfsburg's Dutch forward Bas Dost had seen his shot saved at point-blank range at the other end.
  Yet Locadia, who missed a penalty when the teams last met, broke the deadlock 10 minutes into the second period after being set free by a brilliant pass from De Jong.
  With plenty of time to pick his spot, the 21-year-old thrashed the ball into the back of the net to ignite furious celebrations.
  Adam Maher had a chance to extend PSV's lead but watched in agony as his header shaved the frame of the goal with Benaglio beaten.
  It was 2-0 on 86 minutes though as PSV's top scorer De Jong capped a fine night with a chipped finish for his 14th goal in all competitions this season and first in the Champions League.