Quick-fire Sevilla catch Feyenoord cold

• Sevilla's fast start rewarded by eighth-minute opener from Grzegorz Krychowiak
• On-loan FC Barcelona winger Gerard Deulofeu supplies two assists for Sevilla
• Visitors denied lifeline when sumptuous Jens Toornstra free-kick hits both posts
• Despite second-half chances, score stays at 2-0 for Sevilla's 50th win in competition
• Next games: Rijeka v Sevilla, Feyenoord v Standard (2 October)

Showing quality and confidence in abundance, UEFA Europa League holders Sevilla FC sank an outclassed Feyenoord side courtesy of two first-half strikes in Group G.

Grzegorz Krychowiak and Stéphane Mbia did the early damage, but the Spanish side had to ride their luck slightly before wrestling back momentum and seeing out their 50th victory in the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup.

Making a bright and confident start to their title defence, Sevilla swiftly gained the early goal their adventure deserved when Krychowiak swept in Gerard Deulofeu's eighth-minute free-kick. And it was a remarkably similar effort that doubled Feyenoord's trouble on 31 minutes, Deulofeu sending in another exquisite set piece from the left – this time pummelled into the net by the head of the outstanding Mbia.

The visitors rallied briefly, with hard-running striker Elvis Manu winning a free-kick that Jens Toornstra curled cunningly around the wall, only for it to hit the inside of both posts.

The three-time champions soon regained the initiative, however, and threatened through Deulofeu on three occasions, with other chances falling to Carlos Bacca, José Antonio Reyes – twice – and, most promisingly of all, substitute Iago Aspas, whose delicate chip was saved by the fingertips of Kenneth Vermeer.