Aussies abroad: success in Europa League

Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan returned to Valencia's starting line-up and kept a clean sheet as the La Liga club thrashed Rapid Vienna 6-0 in the Europa League.

Ryan had missed the weekend's 2-1 victory over Espanyol, with Diego Alves making his first league start of the season.

The Brazilian goalkeeper had been sidelined since injuring his anterior cruciate ligament at the end of last season.

But with Ryan between the posts on Thursday (Friday morning AEDT), Valencia notched consecutive wins in all competitions for the first time since October, with Santi Mina starring for Gary Neville's team against Rapid.

The forward scored Valencia's first and third goals; while he also set up the home team's other three as they surged to a 5-0 lead within 35 minutes.

Ryan made four saves to claim his sixth clean sheet of 2015-16 in all competitions.

Valencia's victory means they're almost certain to qualify for the Europa League's last-16.

While Ryan was the only Australian to see action in the Europa League on Thursday, other Aussies saw their clubs claim good results.

Awer Mabil's FC Midtjylland claimed arguably the best win of the night as they stunned Manchester United 2-1 in Denmark, while Robbie Kruse's Bayer Leverkusen won 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon.

Brad Smith's Liverpool drew 0-0 at Augsburg.\

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