Juventus began their quest for Europa League glory with a 5-0 thrashing of NEC Nijmegen, while Bournemouth marked their European debut with an impressive victory at Real Sociedad on Thursday.
Crystal Palace were 4-0 winners over Lech Poznan, but Celtic suffered another European embarrassment as the Scottish champions were beaten 3-1 at home by Ferencvaros.
Juventus expect to be competing among Europe’s elite in the Champions League, but failing to qualify last season has at least given them the opportunity to end a 30-year wait for a continental trophy.
The Italian giants were far too strong for their Dutch visitors in Turin, with Nico Gonzalez, Kerim Alajbegovic and Nick Woltemade — scoring his first goal since joining on loan from Newcastle — putting the hosts 3-0 up before half-time.
Zeki Celik and Randal Kolo Muani added further goals after the break as Juventus made a stronger start than rivals AC Milan, who lost 2-0 to Benfica in the pick of Wednesday’s Europa League action.
Bournemouth enjoyed a dream start to their first European campaign with a 2-1 victory in San Sebastian.
Justin Kluivert opened the scoring before Rayan headed in at the back post to put the Cherries 2-0 ahead inside 20 minutes.
Throwing away leads has been a recurring problem for Marco Rose’s side in the early weeks of the season.
Rose is yet to taste victory in the Premier League, despite Bournemouth taking the lead in all four of their matches so far.
Sergio Gomez’s attempted cross flew into the far corner to give Sociedad hope, but Bournemouth held on for a memorable victory.
Conference League winners last season, Palace proved far too strong for Lech Poznan to maintain a perfect record for English clubs in Champions League and Europa League action, with all eight victories going their way so far this season.
Yeremy Pino pounced on a calamitous Poznan throw-in to open the scoring at Selhurst Park.
Chris Richards doubled Palace’s advantage before Jørgen Strand Larsen converted a penalty to make it 3-0, with Eddie Nketiah completing the rout.
Just weeks after crashing out of the Champions League qualifiers to Austrian side LASK despite at one point holding a four-goal lead, Celtic’s defensive frailties were exposed once again.
Martin O’Neill’s men had also suffered a chastening 3-0 defeat by local rivals Rangers last weekend and failed to deliver on their manager’s promise of a response.
Daniel Arzani marked his return to Celtic Park with a sensational strike to cap a fine night for Ferencvaros, after a Liam Scales own goal and Kristoffer Zachariassen had put the visitors in control.
Besiktas inflicted a fourth consecutive defeat on Marseille with a 4-1 victory in Istanbul.
Vaclav Cerny, Michael Amir Murillo and Ernest Poku struck in the second half after Keyliane Abdallah had cancelled out Ilhan Fakili’s opener for the Turkish side.
AFP
