Sunderland secured a dramatic 2-1 victory over Torreense on Thursday to make it two consecutive wins in the Europa League.
Bournemouth celebrated their first-ever European home game with a 3-0 dismantling of Sturm Graz, while Crystal Palace lost 3-2 at Lyon.
Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan recorded 4-0 romps against Lech Poznan and Red Bull Salzburg, respectively, Juventus beat Celta Vigo 2-1 and Benfica eased past Celtic 4-1.
Sunderland edge Torreense test
In Sunderland’s first European away fixture for 53 years, Volnei Feltes gave Torreense a shock first-half lead, but goals from Jules Ahoka and Noah Sadiki completed the turnaround.
After the game in Leiria, Black Cats manager Régis Le Bris said on Sky Sports: “Back in Europe 53 years later and winning this game just at the end is really special.
“It’s a symbol I think and important for many reasons. The first one is for the club and our fans – they were fantastic once again.
“Also, we are growing up and we need experiences. I think the team showed this belief until the end, which is really important for us.
“We showed again that we were in this mindset.”
Bournemouth thrash Sturm Graz
Evanilson opened the scoring at the Vitality Stadium before Rayan and Álvaro Rodríguez sealed all three points for the Cherries against Sturm Graz.
According to Sky Sports, Bournemouth head coach Marco Rose told TNT Sports: “A deserved win and now we have to continue and get consistent in this kind of thing.
“I believe in this team and I know we are always confident despite being in a difficult situation [in the Premier League].
“We could see that the squad is working, that everyone is keen to play, that everyone deserves to play – and it’s good for us for the next few weeks to have a competitive squad.
“If we stick together like this, if we have our fans, then we are hard to play and it’s hard to beat us.
“That’s what we should take into the next game. It’s getting tough, but it helps this kind of game, this result.”
Lyon outclass Crystal Palace
At the Groupama Stadium, strikes from Corentin Tolisso, Ernest Nuamah and Pavel Šulc kept the hosts in control throughout, with Crystal Palace netting through Yéremy Pino and Daichi Kamada.
In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, Eagles boss Pierre Sage stated: “The scoreline may have been close, but there was a big difference in the way the two teams played.
“We were nowhere near our usual standards in the first half.
“We improved considerably after the break and gave ourselves a chance – but conceding that third goal made things difficult.
“I think our second-half efforts deserved an equaliser, although winning would have been a generous reward given that we only really played for one half.”
