Southampton won their first game in Europe since 1981 as they overcame Vitesse Arnhem 3-0 in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier.
Graziano Pelle, Dusan Tadic and Shane Long got the goals in a comfortable victory in front of a packed out St. Mary’s in the first European match in over a decade for the Saints.
Despite being far from their vibrant best for large periods of the game Ronald Koeman’s side set themselves up for a more attractive away trip to Holland next week.
It wasn’t the easiest of starts for Southampton as, just seven minutes in, Valeri Kazaishvili saw his shot skid just wide of Maarten Steklenburg’s right-hand post giving the St. Mary’s sell-out crowd an early scare.
The rest of the first half was more than comfortable for the home side who dominated possession and monopolised goalmouth action from then on.
Southampton’s first effort came from the least likely of sources as Maya Yoshida’s header was saved comfortably by Eloy Room.
Victor Wanyama also had a shot saved by the Vitesse keeper before Yoshida popped up again but a last ditch tackle by an away defender stopped the Japanese defender.
Southampton looked most dangerous down the right throughout the half with Dusan Tadic and, new signing, Cedric Soares linking up well – and it was down this right hand side that Saints broke the deadlock.
Tadic did well to get out of a tight spot, played inside to Sadio Mane who played Graziano Pelle throughout with a delightful reverse ball. The giant Italian made no mistake, rifling home in to the top right corner.
The Saints were cruising now, and on the stroke of half-time doubled their advantage. Dusan Tadic converted from the penalty spot after Sadio Mane’s trickery drew a rash tackle from Arnhem skipper Gusam Kashia.
Vitesse rarely ventured into the Southampton half after the interval either despite Ronald Koeman’s side slowing down early in the second half.
The second half was, in reality, almost a non-event. An incomplete pre-season took its toll as both sides began to tire.
Vitesse’s first real chance of the half came from a set-piece, sent in by one of several Chelsea loanees, Lewis Baker fell to Milot Rashica who blasted over from 12 yards in the 80th minute.
It could have been a very different final quarter of the match if Danilo Pantic had converted a guilt-edged chance with 15 minutes to play. The new man spun Jose Fonte but fired his shot straight at Maarten Steklenburg.
Pantic was made to pay for his mistake soon after as Shane Long sealed the victory in the 84th minute, pouncing on a mistake by Baker on the halfway line he was clean through and after being tackled by Room. Juanmi picked up the pieces and chipped calmly to long who had an empty net to nod into.
