NEW DELHI, OCT 16 (IANS): Bournemouth had a dream outing in their first-ever European home match as they defeated Sturm Graz at the Vitality Stadium 3-0 to start the Europa League with back-to-back wins.
Juventus and Sunderland also registered come-from-behind wins with late strikes to pull off wins in the second round of the European tournament, while Benfica, Leverkusen and AC Milan also registered strong wins. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace, the third Premier League side in the competition, lost their second clash to Olympique Lyonnais 2-3.
It was a brilliant outing for Marco Rose’s Bournemouth side as the club won its maiden European match at home, with Evanilson, Rayan and Alvaro Rodriguez scoring against the goalless Austrian Bundesliga club for a second straight win after they had defeated Real Sociedad 2-1 earlier.
Meanwhile, Juventus and Sunderland were trailing against Celta and Torreense, respectively, before they rallied back to secure wins in their away fixtures. A Volnei Feltes stroke in the 37th minute had put Torreense ahead as Timur Tutierov’s goal was disallowed.
However, Sunderland made a comeback in the second half with Jules Ahoka levelling in the 67th minute before Noah Sadiki found an injury-time goal in the 94th minute for a late win.
Hugo Alvarez had put Celta 1-0 up in the 18th minute at Balaidos as Juventus were in trouble going into the halftime break. However, Nick Woltemade found the equaliser for the Serie A club before Randal Kolo Muani scored a late injury-time goal in the 93rd minute for a 2-1 win.
Meanwhile, Alphadjo Cisse scored a hat-trick for AC Milan as they routed RB Salzburg at Red Bull Arena Salzburg for a 4-0 win. Cisse became the youngest Italian player ever to score a hat-trick in a major European competition.
Elsewhere, Benfica routed Celtic 4-1, while Leverkusen thrashed Lech Poznan 4-0 for strong wins in the second round.
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