Milan stunned by Ferencvaros, Marseille and Juventus secure Europa League wins

LEVERKUSEN: AC Milan's Europa League hopes suffered a blow after they slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Ferencvaros on Thursday, while Olympique de Marseille secured their first win of the campaign with a 1-0 victory at Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus beat AZ Alkmaar 2-1.

Milan slipped to their third defeat in four European matches and remain outside the playoff places.

The Hungarian side are tied on 12 points with Benfica and Bournemouth. Benfica, 3-1 winners over Lech Poznan, lead the standings on goal difference. Milan are a lowly 28th with three points.

Lenny Joseph put Ferencvaros ahead in the 52nd minute when he capitalised on a misplaced pass from goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani and rolled the ball into an empty net before doubling the visitors' advantage 14 minutes later.

Ferencvaros held firm despite substitute Bamidele Yusuf being sent off in the 77th minute to preserve their clean sheet and all but extinguish Milan's late hopes of a comeback.

"I won't give up on this competition. As long as we're not mathematically out of it, we'll keep fighting in this competition, just as we do in the others," Milan coach Ruben Amorim said.

In Germany, Marseille earned their first three points of the competition thanks to a stunning solo effort from Amine Gouiri after a largely uneventful contest against Leverkusen.

The forward broke the deadlock in the 77th minute, collecting the ball near halfway before surging past defenders and firing a right-footed shot into the net.

Juventus prevailed 2-1 at AZ Alkmaar, with Teun Koopmeiners opening the scoring against a team captained by his brother Peer in the 19th minute.

The Dutch midfielder swept home a first-time finish after Randal Kolo Muani beat his marker down the right and cut the ball back to the edge of the area.

Kolo Muani doubled Juventus's lead eight minutes before halftime, punishing an error forced by the visitors' high press before cutting inside and drilling a low shot into the far corner. Mexx Meerdink pulled one back late on but AZ could not find an equaliser.

Juventus are fifth, level on 10 points with Union Saint Gilloise and Olympiacos.

Elsewhere, Daichi Kamada struck deep into stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw for Crystal Palace against Hoffenheim at Selhurst Park, cancelling out Alexander Prass's early opener for the German side.

Palace earned a point despite being reduced to 10 men after Adam Wharton was sent off in the 77th minute.

Bournemouth maintained their perfect record with a fourth consecutive win, coming from behind to beat Sparta Prague 3-1 away after the hosts were reduced to 10 men following Tobias Guddal's red card.

Ebrima Singhateh gave Sparta the lead before second-half goals from Tyler Adams, Evanilson and Rayan completed the comeback for the Premier League side.