JUVENTUS, CRYSTAL PALACE START EUROPA LEAGUE CAMPAIGN IN STYLE AS BOURNEMOUTH MAKE HISTORY

JUVENTUS, CRYSTAL PALACE START EUROPA LEAGUE CAMPAIGN IN STYLE AS BOURNEMOUTH MAKE HISTORY


Juventus opened their Europa League campaign with a commanding 5-0 victory over NEC Nijmegen on Thursday, while Crystal Palace also recorded a comfortable win and Bournemouth marked their first European appearance with an impressive away victory against Real Sociedad.

The result in Turin gave Juventus an emphatic start to their pursuit of European silverware after missing out on Champions League qualification last season.

The Italian side dominated their Dutch visitors and established a three-goal advantage before half-time. Nico Gonzalez opened the scoring before Kerim Alajbegovic and Nick Woltemade added further goals to put Juventus firmly in control.

Zeki Celik and Randal Kolo Muani completed the scoring after the interval as Juventus secured all three points in convincing fashion.

The victory also provided a positive response following AC Milan's 2-0 defeat to Benfica in another notable Europa League fixture.

In Spain, Bournemouth began their first European campaign with a 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad in San Sebastian.

Justin Kluivert put the English side ahead before Rayan doubled the advantage inside the opening 20 minutes, giving Bournemouth a strong platform to secure their first continental victory.

Real Sociedad reduced the deficit when Sergio Gomez's attempted cross ended up in the far corner of the net. Bournemouth, however, maintained their lead to secure a memorable result away from home.

The victory was particularly significant for Bournemouth following a difficult start to the domestic campaign, with the club having surrendered leads in previous Premier League matches.

Crystal Palace also enjoyed a strong evening, defeating Lech Poznan 4-0 at Selhurst Park.

Yeremy Pino opened the scoring after capitalising on a defensive error from a Poznan throw-in, before Chris Richards extended Palace's advantage.

Jørgen Strand Larsen converted a penalty to make it 3-0, while Eddie Nketiah added the fourth goal to complete a comfortable victory.

The result continued Palace's strong European form after the club won the Conference League last season.

Celtic, meanwhile, endured another difficult night in European competition as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Ferencvaros.

The Scottish champions had recently suffered a 3-0 defeat against Rangers and were unable to produce the response expected by manager Martin O'Neill.

Ferencvaros took control through a Liam Scales own goal and a strike from Kristoffer Zachariassen before Daniel Arzani added another memorable goal on his return to Celtic Park.

The result added to Celtic's recent European difficulties after their Champions League qualifying campaign ended against Austrian club LASK despite the Scottish side having established a substantial lead in the tie.

In Istanbul, Besiktas defeated Marseille 4-1 to hand the French club a fourth consecutive defeat.

Ilhan Fakili put Besiktas ahead before Keyliane Abdallah brought Marseille level. The Turkish side then pulled away in the second half through goals from Vaclav Cerny, Michael Amir Murillo and Ernest Poku.

The opening round of fixtures therefore produced contrasting results for the participating clubs, with Juventus, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth making strong starts while Celtic and Marseille were left with work to do in their respective European campaigns.

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