Lyon down Palace in Europa League, Sunderland leave it late

PARIS - French club Lyon held off Crystal Palace 3-2 in the Europa League on Oct 15, while Sunderland made a late comeback to break the hearts of Portuguese second-division side Torreense.

Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Benfica and Bournemouth all also won to maintain their perfect starts to the league phase.

It was a painful return to his old home for Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage as the UEFA Conference League champions fell to their fourth defeat of the season in all competitions.

“It’s a very disappointing return because we lost. I can’t take satisfaction from coming back home or seeing familiar faces when the result isn’t there,” Sage told UEFA.com.

“The scoreline may have been close, but there was a big difference in the way the two teams played. We were nowhere near our usual standards in the first half.”

Lyon took the lead inside the opening 10 minutes through Corentin Tolisso and Ernest Nuamah then doubled Lyon’s advantage two minutes into first-half injury time.

Yeremy Pino halved the deficit for Palace early in the second period, but a close-range flick by Pavel Sulc restored Lyon’s two-goal buffer.

Daichi Kamada smashed home a second for Palace with nine minutes remaining but the hosts held out to make it two wins from two to start the league phase.

Bayer Leverkusen followed up their opening 2-0 win with a 4-0 success at Polish side Lech Poznan.

AC Milan cruised to a 4-0 victory at Red Bull Salzburg, courtesy of a hat-trick scored by Italian teenager Alphadjo Cisse.

Club-record signing Goncalo Ramos made it four on 72 minutes before a red card for Filippo Terracciano took some of the sheen off the win for Ruben Amorim’s men.

‘Devastated’

In the Estadio Municipal de Leiria, Portuguese Cup winners Torreense looked set to hold their Premier League opponents to a draw until Noah Sadiki’s 93rd-minute strike made it 2-1 for the visitors.

The 15th-placed side in Portugal’s second tier stunned Sunderland in the 37th minute as centre-half Volnei Feltes cut past a flimsy challenge and unleashed a piledriver 30 yards from goal, which left Robin Roefs rooted to the spot.

Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris sent on first-team regulars Granit Xhaka and Enzo Le Fee just shy of the hour and the move paid dividends as Jules Ahoka struck shortly afterwards to level the scores.

After a lengthy VAR check decided against awarding Sunderland a late penalty, Torreense must have thought they had done enough to earn a famous point until Sadiki popped up at the death to thrash in the winner.

“Conceding a goal in the last minute is a blow to the chest,” Torreense coach Carlos Simoes said. “The players are in the dressing room, devastated.”

Fellow Premier League outfit Bournemouth enjoyed a fine home debut in Europe as they eased to a 3-0 win over Sturm Graz, courtesy of goals by Evanilson, Rayan and Alvaro Rodriguez.

Juventus fought from behind to emerge 2-1 victors at Celta Vigo after Newcastle loanee Nick Woltemade made it two from two in Europe to cancel out Hugo Alvarez’s opener for the hosts, and Randal Kolo Muani scored an injury-time winner.

Martin O’Neill’s Celtic continued their difficult start to the season as they sank to a fourth defeat in their last five outings, outclassed 4-1 at Benfica. AFP