Bournemouth become first English side since 1973-74 to win first three Europa League games with 3-0 thrashing of 10-man AC Milan

Bournemouth make Europa League history on the south coast

Marco Rose’s Bournemouth became the first English team to win the club’s first three European games since Sunderland’s Cup Winners’ Cup campaign in 1973/74 after a famous 3-0 win over former European giants AC Milan at the Vitality Stadium.

The Cherries were aided by a first-half sending-off for Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, which left the Rossoneri a man down for much of the night. Former Bundesliga wingers Justin Kluivert and Amine Adli scored with an early penalty-kick and a late free-kick respectively to complete the Premier League side’s dominant victory.

Rose’s men will face out-of-form Manchester United on Sunday with hopes of extending their winning run to four games in all competitions. Ruben Amorim’s side also lost their first away game to Benfica, who lead the Europa League standings ahead of Bayer Leverkusen on goal difference. Ferencvaros and Olympiacos also won their first three games in the league phase of the Europa League.

More Europa League action

Former Borussia Dortmund fullback Sergio Gomez scored a brace as Real Sociedad beat Lillestrom 6-0 away from home. Anderlecht recorded the first win of their European campaign with Marten Winkler, who joined the Belgian giants from Hertha BSC in the summer, on the scoresheet against Jagiellonia.

Fellow Germany midfielder Mika Bauer scored for Celtic against Celta Vigo, but his club suffered a fourth successive defeat in Europe, leaving the Hoops as Europa League strugglers.

Former Bundesliga stars Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jesper Lindstrom scored for Crystal Palace and RB Salzburg in the 2-2 draws for their teams at Beşiktaş and Celje respectively.

Conference League

In the UEFA Europa Conference League, eight teams maintained their perfect start, including Monaco at the expense of SC Freiburg.

Marc-André ter Stegen and Julian Brandt helped Ajax to a hard-fought 2-0 win over Atalanta, while Fabian Hürzeler’s Brighton were held to a goalless draw at Jablonec.