Bournemouth secured a sensational 3-0 home victory over 10-man AC Milan on Thursday to maintain their perfect start to the Europa League campaign with a third consecutive win.
Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier converted first-half penalties to put the Premier League side firmly in control against the Italian giants, whose hopes of mounting a comeback were dealt a major blow by the early dismissal of goalkeeper and captain Mike Maignan.
Maignan was sent off for a foul on Tyler Adams, leaving Milan with 10 men for most of the contest.
Amine Adli sealed Bournemouth’s emphatic victory with a superb free-kick in the 84th minute, adding to wins over Real Sociedad and Sturm Graz in their opening two matches.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth’s Premier League rivals Crystal Palace were held to a 2-2 draw by Besiktas in Istanbul, while Scottish giants Celtic suffered their third consecutive defeat, losing 2-1 to Celta Vigo.
Bayer Leverkusen also maintained their winning run, with a Jonas Hofmann brace securing a 2-0 away victory over OFI Crete as Juventus and Sunderland dropped points on the third matchday.
Hungarian side Ferencvaros kept pace with Leverkusen, thrashing Portuguese opponents Torreense 4-1, while Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise recorded a commanding 4-0 win over Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Saint-Gilloise, Sunderland and Juventus all had seven points from their opening three matches.
Juventus thought they had completed a comeback victory against French side Rennes, only for a late goal to be ruled out for a marginal offside.
Zeki Celik gave Juventus an early lead after five minutes, but a poor clearance 10 minutes later allowed Musa Al-Taamari to equalise.
Boulaye Dia then put the visitors ahead shortly before half-time.
Juventus fought back to level the score at 2-2 through Nick Woltemade, who converted a penalty awarded for handball.
However, VAR provided the decisive moment of the match, ruling out Jhon Lucumi’s 88th-minute strike for offside.
Sunderland were left frustrated after a 1-1 draw in Poland, despite taking an early lead against Lech Poznan.
Wearing an all-pink kit, the Black Cats struck in the second minute through Timur Tutierov and dominated periods of the match but were unable to secure all three points.
The draw nevertheless kept Regis Le Bris’s side in contention for a place in the next round, with two home matches remaining.
Elsewhere, Marseille suffered a 1-0 defeat to Sturm Graz, while Lyon were thrashed 3-0 by Hoffenheim.
In the Conference League, former Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah opened the scoring from the penalty spot as Trabzonspor secured a 2-0 victory over Scottish side Hearts.
Brighton were held to a goalless draw away to Czech side Jablonec, while Monaco recorded a convincing 3-0 win over Freiburg.
Ajax also claimed a 2-0 victory over Atalanta.
AFP
