Levante's first foray into European competition was a successful one as goals in either half from Juanlu and Nabil El Zhar ensured a 2-0 win at Motherwell.

The Scottish Premier League side gave a strong account of themselves against the La Liga side, but failed to make their possession and a short spell of dominance early in the second half count.

Well also had Shaun Hutchinson sent off late on, after denying Theofanis Gekas an obvious goal scoring opportunity just outside the area.

Motherwell looked like making it into the interval with the tie still goal-less but were made to pay for a lapse in concentration. A long ball forward was aimed at Theofanis Gekas, who was occupying an offside position behind the defence.

With the Well players appealing to the far side linesman, Gekas stepped out of the play and Juanlu, sensing the opportunity, sprinted from midfield to nip in undetected to latch onto the ball.

Hutchinson made a desperate last ditch attempt to block the shot on goal, with Darren Randolph also charging out, but the left-sided player kept his head to slot the ball into the net.

Motherwell came out in the second half with fresh impetus, with Henrik Ojamaa twice passing up efforts from 12 yards and Chris Humphrey seeing a cross flashed across the face of goal agonisingly seeing no takers.

Levante were content to sit deep and allow Well to come at them through midfield, picking the SPL side off on the counter, and it was through their patience they netted their second goal.

Former Liverpool player El Zhar, on as a first half substitute, ghosted into the area as Michel fed Christian Lell out wide on the right as the Motherwell defence was stretched.

Lell spotted El Zhar five yards off the Motherwell players desperately trying to cover ground, steering the ball into the left of the goal past the diving Randolph unmarked from the penalty spot.

Motherwell continued to press, without any end product, but nearly conceded a third when Gekas broke clear on another counter attack.

Hutchinson's lunging tackle upended the Greek striker just outside of the penalty area, leaving referee Antti Munukka with little choice but to dismiss the central defender.