Category: UEFA Competitions

The four Premier League clubs playing in the lesser continental competitions face each other on Sunday – but three are struggling domestically

The sun shone. The temperature was in the high 20s. There was a mood of great conviviality. If you were struggling with the official allocation, it turned out you could just email the president of Torreense and he’d sort you out. Were these “Nuno-tickets” real? It turned out they were. Not only that, but you could sit anywhere you wanted in a stadium too big for the game and, if you happened to have gravitated to the comfortable hospitality seating at the back of the lower tier, the beer was inexplicably free.

Locals in Leiria seemed bewildered but could hardly have been more accommodating. A beer pump had been installed outside a patisserie on the Praça Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, whose owner soon found fans happy to help stack empty barrels if that facilitated the free flow of Sagres. “There was a meeting at the town hall to explain these are not hooligans,” said the owner of a radical leftist flammkuchen restaurant between the square and the cathedral. “They told us the club comes from the labour movement and I found that very interesting.” And how had she found the fans? “Noisy, but with a quirky sense of humour.”

An impossible dream realised: the Vitality Stadium staging European football, where the Europa League is becoming an oasis for Bournemouth. No wins yet in the Premier League, but beating Sturm Graz following up winning away at Real Sociedad should calm the domestic pressures mounting on Marco Rose. A pair of Brazilians secured club history, with Evanilson’s first-half header followed by Rayan’s later drive, a clincher coming just as the Austrian visitors were pushing hard for an equaliser. Álvaro Rodríguez’s stoppage-time penalty extended the celebrations.

Flag day at the Vitality. Elvis Presley’s high baritone and Andy Williams’ tenor on the public address system marked a different type of occasion. Bournemouth have come a significant distance. “Minus 17 to European dreams” read a banner in the Steve Fletcher stand, marking the journey from the foot of the Football League to becoming a model, continental club. Milan visit next week, an occasion to further broaden the smile of Bill Foley, Bournemouth’s financier present in the posh seats. “A long time coming,” said Bournemouth’s long-serving captain, Adam Smith. “The fans were up for it, the players were up for it.”

South coast sides were coasting as Bournemouth and Brighton registered big wins, but Celtic fell to heavy defeat at Benfica

8.10pm: Duran heads wide as Benfica go in search of a second.

And Duran makes no mistake from the spot, lifting a cheeky Panenka over Sinisalo! Pretty harsh that penalty call, I fear.

• Sage loses 3-2 to former side; Benfica 4-1 Celtic

• Juventus go top with 2-1 win over Celta Vigo

Pierre Sage endured a frustrating return to Lyon in the Europa League as his Crystal Palace side lost 3-2 to his former employers at the Groupama Stadium.

Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring for the hosts and Ernest Nuamah doubled Lyon’s advantage late in a first half without a shot on target for the visitors. Yéremy Pino halved the deficit five minutes after the break before Pavel Sulc restored the Ligue 1 side’s two-goal advantage. The Palace substitute Daichi Kamada pulled one back with nine minutes remaining in a better second half for Palace, who could not find an equaliser.

Black Cats can reboot season against Torreense in Europa League in break from tough start to the Premier League

There is a pleasing symmetry about Sunderland’s Europa League trip to Portugal to face Torreense on Thursday night. The club’s last competitive venture on European soil, 53 years ago, was the second leg of a European Cup Winners’ Cup second-round tie against Sporting in Lisbon for the FA Cup holders, then in the Second Division.

In a striking parallel, second-tier Torreense prompted widespread surprise by beating Sporting in the Portuguese Cup final last season. The reward was a place in the Europa League’s initial phase and their chances of reaching next spring’s sudden-death rounds were boosted when they beat Lillestrom 2-1 in Norway last month.

• Hoops beaten again after chastening loss to Rangers

• Juventus hammer NEC, Besiktas pile woe on Marseille

Celtic suffered another European embarrassment as the Scottish champions were beaten 3-1 at home by Ferencvaros in the Europa League. Just weeks on from crashing out of the Champions League qualifiers to Austrian side Lask, despite at one point holding a four-goal lead, Celtic’s defensive flaws were exposed once more.

Martin O’Neill’s team also suffered a chastening 3-0 defeat to rivals Rangers last weekend and failed to deliver on their manager’s promise to respond. Bamidele Yusuf opened the scoring for the visitors before Mika Baur equalised late in the first half. However Kristoffer Zachariassen quickly put Ferencvaros back in front before Daniel Arzani’s sensational strike, on his return to Celtic Park, capped a fine night for Ferencvaros.

A good night for Bournemouth and Palace but a miserable one for Celtic

TNT’s Connie McLaughlin asks Celtic boss Martin O’Neill to “talk to us about the thinking behind” replacing goalkeeper Sam Johnstone with Viljami Sinisalo … and receives an unnecessarily abrupt and cranky response. “No I’ll not talk to you about the thinking behind that … he was always going to play … believe it or not, Connie, my job is not actually to explain every single situation to you … do you know what I’ll do? … I’ll tell the fans … through my Celtic TV.”

Would he like to talk about the other three changes? “No, absolutely not … I don’t want to be ruinous here of this situation … start again, and tell me all about it … give me the rest of the changes … [McLaughlin tells him] … I’m delighted you’re taking about James Forrest … he’s been a fantastic player … getting on a little bit … he’s been a fantastic impact sub … let’s see what he can do … can he last the game? … I doubt it very much … thank you.”

It was worth the wait for Crystal Palace. After being denied their rightful place in the Europa League last season, Pierre Sage’s side made the perfect debut by brushing aside Lech Poznan with a victory that will take some of the heat off their new manager.

The Frenchman has big shoes to fill in replacing Oliver Glasner after his predecessor won three trophies in 12 months and there had been some talk of disquiet behind the scenes following his decision to drop the teenager Jaydee Canvot at the weekend. But while Palace face a testing trip to face in-form Leeds on Sunday having conceded 11 goals from their opening four Premier League matches, they were given a big helping hand by their opponents here well before Radoslaw Murawski was sent off late on for a reckless foul on Canvot.