Aston Villa booked a place in the Europa Conference League group stage by sweeping aside Hibernian 3-0 on the night and 8-0 on aggregate.
Villa, who won the first leg of their qualifying play-off 5-0 last week in Edinburgh, underlined their superiority over managerless Hibs with goals from Jhon Duran and Leon Bailey before the interval.
Substitute Matty Cash struck his third goal in two games just after the hour-mark as Villa, hosting a European tie for the first time in 13 years, made it four straight wins in all competitions.
Unai Emery’s side will learn who they face in the Europa Conference League group stage on Friday when the draw is made in Monaco.
Hibs, who sacked manager Lee Johnson on Sunday after a home defeat to Livingston left them bottom of the cinch Premiership without a point, were backed throughout by their noisy band of 2,200 travelling supporters.
But the visitors were reminded of the gulf in class between the two sides in the 12th minute when Duran opened the scoring.
The Colombia forward burst between Hibs’ centre-backs Rocky Bushiri and Paul Hanlon on to Pau Torres’ excellent pass and swept the ball home.
Hibs have put former defender David Gray in temporary charge for a third time and they responded through Jordan Obita’s effort, which forced Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen into a flying save.
But Villa made it 7-0 on aggregate when teenage debutant Omari Kellyman laid on their second goal in the 34th minute.
The 17-year-old skipped past a tackle and slid in Bailey, who cut back on to his left foot on the right edge of the area to fire beyond Hibs goalkeeper David Marshall.
Emery, who made six changes from the side which won 3-1 at Burnley last weekend, sent on Cash and captain John McGinn – against his former club – for the start of the second half.
Cash, who fired a double at Turf Moor on Sunday, made it 3-0 on the night just after the hour-mark, burying a rebound after Marshall had failed to hold on to Bailey’s fierce free-kick.
McGinn was denied a goal after more neat interplay from Villa by a last-ditch block before the home side took their foot off the gas.
Hibs, given a rousing send off by their impressive fans at the final whistle, will now focus on Sunday’s league game at Aberdeen, where they will bid to kick-start their domestic season.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Slot believes Liverpool have 'many challenges to come' in Premier League title race
Arne Slot envisages "many challenges to come" in Liverpool's Premier League title race, despite his side moving five points clear at the top of the table with victory on Saturday.
The Reds capitalised on Manchester City's slip at Brighton by taking all three points in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa to establish breathing space at the summit.
Darwin Nunez gave the hosts the lead at Anfield as he capitalised after a quick counter, before Mohamed Salah did the same six minutes from time to secure all three points.
While Slot was pleased by the outcome, he is aware the cushion at the top does not guarantee a smooth run in their title challenge.
"It wasn't easy, like most of our games have been now," he told TNT Sport. "Aston Villa were maybe not as aggressive as we thought they would be.
"We were patient. One thing they are very good at is set-pieces. In general, we had control over the game and scored from two counter-attacks, which is maybe not what we would expect.
"If I look at the games that are ahead, they are tough. It will be a tough season in general. Margins are small, we have a margin, but it is small. [There are] many challenges to come for us."
Slot has got off to a fine start since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as manager at the start of the season, as he became just the fourth manager to win as many as nine of his first 11 Premier League games in charge, after John Gregory, Guus Hiddink, and Carlo Ancelotti.
Liverpool now have 28 points in the league. They have only previously equalled this total once after 11 games, in their title-winning season of 2019-20 (31).
Equally, no manager has ever won more points from their first 11 games in the competition than Slot. The Dutchman is not concerned by totals or margins, however, with his focus remaining on the philosophy he wants to instil at Anfield.
"As a manager, if you come into a new club, you don't think about how many points after how many games," he told BBC Match of the Day. "You think about changing the style or keeping it as it was.
"To change the style, you have to do a lot of things on the training ground and in meetings. The only thing I have thought about is how to implement the playing style, and how to make sure the players keep working as hard as they can."
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