PARIS: Bournemouth pulled off a sensational 3-0 home victory over 10-man AC Milan on Thursday to make it three wins from their opening three games in the Europa League.
Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier converted first-half penalties to put Bournemouth firmly in control against AC Milan, one of Europe's leading clubs.
Milan goalkeeper and skipper Mike Maignan was red carded early on for a foul on Tyler Adams and his side never fully recovered.
Amine Adli scored a sublime 84th free-kick to make it 3-0, the Premier League side having opened their inaugural Europa League campaign with victory at Real Sociedad followed by a 3-0 home win over Sturm Graz last week.
Bournemouth, who became the first English club since Sunderland in 1973-74 to win the first three European fixtures in their history, will now face Sparta Prague and Celta Vigo in November.
"It means a lot. We came off two victories, so that gave us a good feeling for this game," Kluivert told TNT Sports.
"We trust ourselves. It doesn't matter who we play against. We know what we're capable of, and I think we showed that today."
Bournemouth's Premier League rivals Crystal Palace rebounded from a 5-0 weekend thrashing by Brighton to claim a 2-2 draw with Beskitas in Istanbul, while Scottish giants Celtic suffered a third successive defeat, going down 2-1 to Celta Vigo.
THREE FROM THREE FOR LEVERKUSEN
Bayer Leverkusen, however, also made it three straight wins with a Jonas Hofmann double earning a 2-0 away win at OFI Crete as both Juventus and Sunderland lost ground in Thursday's third matchday.
The once mighty Hungarian side Ferencvaros kept pace with Leverkusen on nine points thumping Portuguese outfit Torreense 4-1, while Belgium's Union Saint-Gilloise won 4-0 against Israeli outfit Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
Saint-Gilloise, Sunderland and Juve all have seven points from three games.
Juventus thought they had come from behind to beat French side Rennes but had their late 'winner' ruled out for a marginal offside.
Zeki Celik put Juve ahead after five minutes only for a poor clearance 10 minutes later allowing Musa al Taamari to poke home an equaliser. Jut before the break Boulaye Dia put the visitors ahead.
Juventus made it 2-2 thanks to a handball and a spot-kick transformed by Nick Woltemade before VAR provided the biggest talking point, disallowing Jhon Lucumi's 88th minute strike.
Clad in a new all-pink kit, Sunderland were left kicking themselves after a 1-1 draw in Poland.
The Blacks Cats took a second minute lead in Poznan thanks to Timur Tutierov and dominated the game without being able to close out the win.
With two home games remaining, however, the second round still beckons for Regis Le Bris' side.
Marseille went down 1-0 to Sturn Graz while Lyon suffered a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Hoffenheim.
In the Conference League, former Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah opened the scoring from the penalty spot in Trabzonspor's 2-0 win over Scottish side Hearts.
Brighton were held to a 0-0 draw at Czech side Jablonec, as Monaco thumped Freiburg 3-0 and Ajax snuck a 2-0 win over Atalanta. — AFP
Europa League results on Thursday:
League phase, matchday 3
Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL) 4 (Florcusz 45-pen, Smith 60, 81, Aquino 77) Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR) 0
Juventus (ITA) 2 (Celik 5, Woltemade 67-pen) Rennes (FRA) 2 (Tamari 15, Dia 43-pen)
Lech Poznan (POL) 1 (Bengtsson 70) Sunderland (ENG) 1 (Tutierov 2)
Ferencvaros (HUN) 4 (Yusuf 20, Gomez 58, Diadie 80-og, Lisztes 89) Torreense (POR) 1 (Pozo 23)
OFI Crete (GRE) 0 Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2 (Hofmann 35, 37)
Sturm Graz (AUT) 1 (Diakite 13) Marseille (FRA) 0
Ararat-Armenia (ARM) 0 AZ Alkmaar (NED) 4 (Andreason 21, Patati 27, 76, Meerdink 79)
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 2 (Beljo 33, 37) NEC Nijmegen (NED) 4 (Bischoff 25, Linssen 45, 54, Chery 80)
Besiktas (TUR) 2 (Ndidi 45+2, Olaïtan 73)) Crystal Palace (ENG) 2 (Pino 51, Mateta 55)
Bournemouth (ENG) 3 (Kluivert 8-pen, Tavernier 32-pen, Adli 84) AC Milan (ITA) 0
Celtic (SCO) 1 (Baur 47) Celta Vigo (ESP) 2 (Rodríguez 68, 71)
Celje (SLO) 2 (Kramer 50, Kucys 90) Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 2 (Kitano 9, Lindstrøm 46)
Hoffenheim (GER) 3 (Kramaric 45+4, Daghim 49, Hlozek 83) Lyon (FRA) 0
Jagiellonia Bialystok (POL) 0 Anderlecht (BEL) 3 (Cvetkovic 21, Winkler 72, Seke 80)
Lillestrom (NOR) 0 Real Sociedad (ESP) 6 (Gomez 25, 27, Sucic 33, 72 Oskarsson 64, Zakharyan 80)
Olympiakos (GRE) 1 (Gonzalez (78) Sparta Prague (CZE) 0
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1 (Kabongo 62) Levski Sofia (BUL) 2 (Bala 44, Reinaldo 65)
Omonia Nicosia (CYP) 1 (Kakoullis 42) Benfica (POR) 4 (Nego 14-og, Pavlidis 49, Aursnes 76, Prestianni 85)
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