Lyon's Ukrainian forward #77 Roman Yaremchuk (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's first goal during the French L1 football match between Olympique Lyonnais (OL) and AJ Auxerre at the Groupama Stadium in Decines-Charpieu, central-eastern France, on April 25, 2026. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP)
Ligue 1 club Lyon held off Crystal Palace 3-2 in the Europa League on Thursday, while Sunderland made a late comeback to break the hearts of Portuguese second-division side Torreense.
Bayer Leverkusen went top of the table with a 4-0 win, while AC Milan strolled to victory by the same scoreline.
It was a painful return to his old home for Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage as the UEFA Conference League champions fell to their fourth defeat of the season in all competitions.
Lyon took the lead inside the opening 10 minutes when Corentin Tolisso was quickest to react to the dropping ball at a corner to prod the hosts in front.
Ernest Nuamah doubled Lyon’s advantage two minutes into first-half injury time as he tucked home Keito Nakamura’s cross at the end of a slick move.
A clever set-piece routine allowed Yeremy Pino to halve the deficit for Palace early in the second period.
A clever close-range flick by Pavel Sulc then restored the two-goal buffer for Paulo Fonseca’s charges just inside the final quarter hour.
Kamada smashed home a second for Palace with nine minutes on the clock but the home side held out to make it two wins from two to start the league phase.
In the Estadio Municipal de Leiria, Portuguese Cup winners Torreense looked set to hold their Premier League opponents to a draw until Noah Sadiki’s 93rd-minute strike made it 2-1 for the visitors.
The 15th-placed side in Portugal’s second division stunned Sunderland in the 37th minute as centre-half Volnei Feltes cut past a flimsy challenge and unleashed a piledriver 30 yards from goal, which left Robin Roefs rooted to the spot.
Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris sent on first-team regulars Granit Xhaka and Enzo Le Fee just shy of the hour and the move paid dividends as Jules Ahoka struck shortly afterwards to level the scores.
After a lengthy VAR check decided against awarding Sunderland a late penalty, Torreense must have thought they had done enough to earn a famous point until Sadiki popped up at the death to thrash in the winner.
• Cisse on fire –
Bayer Leverkusen sit pretty at the top of the standings as they followed up their opening 2-0 win with a 4-0 success at Polish side Lech Poznan.
Czech striker Patrik Schick was on target twice from the penalty spot in the first half, either side of a Malik Tillman goal, to ensure the points were wrapped up for Carles Martinez’s side before the interval. Ibrahim Maza added a late fourth.
AC Milan cruised to a 4-0 victory at Red Bull Salzburg, courtesy of a hat-trick scored by Italian teenager Alphadjo Cisse.
Club-record signing Goncalo Ramos made it four on 72 minutes before a red card for Filippo Terracciano took some of the sheen off the win for Ruben Amorim’s men.
La Liga’s Real Sociedad followed up their matchday one loss at home to Bournemouth with a 1-1 draw at Union Saint-Gilloise.
Later, Celtic travel to Lisbon to take on Benfica and Celta Vigo host Italian giants Juventus.
Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium will welcome European football for the first time in the Premier League outfit’s history as they welcome Austrians Sturm Graz.
AFP