MADRID, March 7 -- Spain's three clubs still in the Europa League enjoyed a relatively positive night on Thursday, although Valencia and Sevilla still have work to do if they want to reach the quarterfinals.
Villarreal faced what looked like the toughest task of the three as the team third from bottom in Spain's Liga Santander visited Zenit St Petersburg - the leaders of the Russian league.
However, goals from Vicente Iborra, Gerard Moreno and Manuel Morlanes helped them to a 3-1 win in the Saint Petersburg Stadium, where Sardar Azmoun netted for the home side.
Sevilla, who have had a poor time of things in Spain recently, dropping from fourth to sixth in the table, will be disappointed with a 2-2 draw at home to Slavia Prague after twice leading.
Wissam Ben Yedder and Munir el Haddadi put the five-times Champions ahead in the first and the 28th minute, but they twice pegged back by Mirislav Stoch on 25 minutes and Alex Kral in the 39th minute.
Valencia looked to be on their way to a comfortable win at home to Krasnodar, who sit behind Saint Petersburg in the Russian League, when Rodrigo Moreno followed up his spectacular volley at the weekend with another excellent goal to open the scoring in the 12th minute and followed that up with a second in the 24th minute.
Viktor Claesson scored a vital away goal for Krasnodar in the 63rd minute to leave Valencia with a tricky return leg in Russia next week.