Juventus, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth all made strong starts to their Europa League campaigns on Thursday evening.
Juventus 5-0 NEC Nijmegen
The Bianconeri opened their league-phase account in emphatic fashion at the Allianz Stadium. Nico González capitalised on an early error by NEC goalkeeper Nikolas Polster to open the scoring in the ninth minute. Kerim Alajbegovic doubled the lead with a fine strike from the edge of the area, before Nick Woltemade converted a penalty before half-time.
Zeki Çelik added a fourth after the break and Randal Kolo Muani completed the scoring late on, again benefiting from another misjudgment by Polster. Five different scorers underlined Juventus’s dominance as they began their European campaign with a convincing victory.
Crystal Palace 4-0 Lech Poznan
Palace marked their first-ever Europa League appearance with a comfortable win at Selhurst Park. Yeremy Pino opened the scoring after intercepting a poor throw-in, Chris Richards headed in a second from a corner, and Jørgen Strand Larsen converted a penalty to make it 3-0 by half-time.
Eddie Nketiah added a late fourth after Lech were reduced to 10 men. The result provided a much-needed boost for Pierre Sage’s side following a mixed start to the Premier League season.
Real Sociedad 1-2 Bournemouth
Bournemouth recorded a memorable first-ever European victory away at Real Sociedad. Justin Kluivert gave the Cherries an early lead with a side-footed finish, and Rayan headed home a second from Alex Scott’s excellent cross to put the visitors firmly in control by the 20th minute.
Sergio Gómez pulled one back just before the hour mark, but Marco Rose’s side held firm to secure all three points on their continental debut.
The three results provided an encouraging opening night for the English and Italian clubs in the competition.