Key events
Half-time scores
Besiktas 1-1 Marseille
Celtic 1-2 Ferencvaros
Crystal Palace 3-0 Lech Poznan
Juventus 3-0 NEC
Levski Sofia 0-1 Red Bull Salzburg (F)
Lillestrom 0-1 Torreense
OFI 2-0 Hoffenheim (F)
Plzen 0-2 Union Saint Gilloise
Real Sociedad 0-2 AFC Bournemouth
(with apologies to Alejandro Alfaro of Torreense for failing to report his 23rd-minute goal)
GOAL! Plzen 0-2 Union Saint Gilloise (Biondic 43). And with Mateo Biondic putting USG two up at the break, it’s time for the half-time scores …
HALF TIME: Crystal Palace 3-0 Lech Poznań
What price a Palace-Bournemouth final? Going too early with this?
HALF TIME: Real Sociedad 0-2 Bournemouth
Bournemouth have pretty much schooled Sociedad from the get-go. What an opening 45 to their first-ever European campaign!
HALF TIME: Celtic 1-2 Ferencvaros
That’s pretty much the last kick – the last flick – of the half. Martin O’Neill was raging before the game; now he’ll be on a rolling boil. Penny to be in the home dressing room at Parkhead.
GOAL! Celtic 1-2 Ferencvaros (Zachariassen 45+1)
Well that bhurst of Bhoys bhliss didn’t last long. Bamidele Yusuf turns Kieran Tierney inside out down the right, then nutmegs Callum McGregor to find Kristoffer Zachariassen, who cheekily back-flicks home from six yards!
GOAL! Celtic 1-1 Ferencvaros (Baur 44)
… but Scales and Celtic won’t give two hoots about that now! Kieran Tierney bursts into the box down the left and cuts back accurately for Mika Baur, who sweeps home from his unchallenged position, ten yards out!
Celtic 0-1 Ferencvaros. Uefa have decided Ferencvaros’s opener was a Liam Scales own goal. Bamidele Yusuf’s cross-cum-shot looked on target, but the pen-pushing classes have to justify themselves somehow.
GOAL! Juventus 3-0 NEC (Woltemade 35 pen). The on-loan Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade surely secures all three points for Juve.
GOAL! Besiktas 1-1 Marseille (Abdallah 29). Keyliane Abdallah draws Marseille – the 1999, 2004 and 2018 runners-up – level in Turkey.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 3-0 Lech Poznań (Strand Larsen 34 pen)
Yeremy Pino draws a foul from Radoslaw Murawski. The ref points to the spot, Jørgen Strand Larsen hammers home from 12 yards, and Palace are doing the Poznań.
Real Sociedad 0-2 Bournemouth. The hosts are beginning to lose their supercool. Ander Barrenetxea cynically checks Adam Smith at the expense of a booking. Some referees might have had more to say about the ferocity of that shoulder barge. Then Beñat Turrientes, already on a booking, clips James Hill from behind. At this rate, they’ll be lucky to end the half, never mind the match, with ten men.
GOAL! Juventus 2-0 NEC (Alajbegovic 24). Kerim Alajbegovic doubles the Old Lady’s lead. She could learn to love it around here.
Real Sociedad 0-2 Bournemouth. Sociedad are all over the show. Alex Scott nearly dribbles his way clear down the inside-right channel but can’t get a decent shot away. Then Marcus Tavernier slaloms elegantly down the right. Finally Scott is illegally clipped on the same flank; his long free kick is headed wide by Antonio Silva. Sociedad can’t get out.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-0 Lech Poznań (Richards 27)
A corner in from the right. Chris Richards leaps in the salmon style and powers a header into the top right! Mateusz Lis might have stopped that, but there’s no stopping Palace, who now have two goals from two attempts on target.
Real Sociedad 0-2 Bournemouth. So nearly three for Bournemouth! Alex Scott is rugby tackled by Beñat Turrientes out on the left touchline. A booking for the Sociedad man. Scott takes the free kick himself, and his inswinger is deftly headed across Unai Marrero and off the right-hand post by Evanilson.
GOAL! Plzen 0-1 Union Saint Gilloise (Mofokeng 17)
GOAL! Besiktas 1-0 Marseille (Fakili 15)
Goals of the elsewhere variety.
GOAL! Real Sociedad 0-2 Bournemouth (Rayan 20)
Alex Scott, quarterbacking from deep, launches a long pass down the inside-right channel for Rayan, who meets the dropping ball first time with a header across Unai Marrero and into the left-hand side of the net! The Cherries making themselves at home in San Sebastian!
GOAL! Celtic 0-1 Ferencvaros (Yusuf 20)
O’Neill will be fuming all right now! Bamidele Yusuf cuts in from the right and aims a low diagonal curler towards the bottom left. It nicks off Liam Scales’s telescoped leg, but doesn’t really divert, and would surely have been going in anyway. Viljami Sinisalo nowhere near it.
Celtic 0-0 Ferencvaros. Martin O’Neill was in a foul mood before the game; he’d have been properly fuming had Adam Bagi met Bamidele Yusuf’s fine inswinger from the right with the header it deserved. Wide and high.
GOAL! Juventus 1-0 NEC (Gonzalez 9). Two-time European champions Juventus will feel they’re slumming it ever so slightly in the Europa. Nicolas Gonzalez gives them the fast start they’ll have been expecting.
GOAL! Real Sociedad 0-1 Bournemouth (Kluivert 10)
Adrien Truffert is sent scampering down the left. He crosses low. Justin Kluivert times his run perfectly, opening his body and flicking into the bottom left. A simple move, crisply executed. The offside flag goes up, but VAR gets involved and the man who took Bournemouth’s first kick in European football gets their first goal too!
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 Lech Poznan (Yeno 10)
Terry Yegbe takes a throw from the Poznan left touchline. Across the face of his own box. It’s a suicidal effort. Yeremy Pino intercepts, and he’s clean through down the middle. Pino enters the box and steers a shot across the keeper and into the bottom left. Selhurst Park erupts!
Crystal Palace 0-0 Lech Poznan. Palace’s debut in Uefa’s secondary competition has started well. Yeremy Pino with a determined slalom down the inside-left channel that nearly comes off. And then …
Real Sociedad 0-0 Bournemouth. A long cross from the left finds Rayan at the far post. He should really be powering a header goalwards, six yards out, but unselfishly attempts to tee up Evanilson by knocking it back into the middle. Bad choice. The ball’s blocked and cleared.
Real Sociedad 0-0 Bournemouth. It’s an open start at Anoeta. Orri Óskarsson runs at Bournemouth down the left; Patrick Kluivert and Evanilson nearly open the hosts up down the right.
Celtic 0-0 Ferencvaros. Celtic are on the front foot early doors. All of the action in the Ferencvaros box. A couple of scrambles, a couple of corners. The Hungarians can’t get out.
Whistles are blown across Europe, and the 8pms are underway. Justin Kluivert with Bournemouth’s first kick in Uefa competition!
The 5.45pm kick-offs have finished. Your classified check …
Levski Sofia 0-1 Red Bull Salzburg
OFI Crete 2-0 Hoffenheim
OFI added to their tally with a late Giorgos Kanellopoulos goal. It all means that the Europa League table, with just over one half of Matchday 1 complete, looks like this. Too early?
TNT’s Connie McLaughlin asks Celtic boss Martin O’Neill to “talk to us about the thinking behind” replacing goalkeeper Sam Johnstone with Viljami Sinisalo … and receives an unnecessarily abrupt and cranky response. “No I’ll not talk to you about the thinking behind that … he was always going to play … believe it or not, Connie, my job is not actually to explain every single situation to you … do you know what I’ll do? … I’ll tell the fans … through my Celtic TV.”
Would he like to talk about the other three changes? “No, absolutely not … I don’t want to be ruinous here of this situation … start again, and tell me all about it … give me the rest of the changes … [McLaughlin tells him] … I’m delighted you’re taking about James Forrest … he’s been a fantastic player … getting on a little bit … he’s been a fantastic impact sub … let’s see what he can do … can he last the game? … I doubt it very much … thank you.”
Well that was a lot more awkward than it needed to be. McLaughlin is certainly earning her money tonight.
Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage talks to TNT. “During the way from the training ground to the stadium with the team, the driver put clips [of the Conference League final win] on the coach … it was incredible … it is something [the players] will keep in their head all their lives … something really special … this is an opportunity to do something different.”
Bournemouth boss Marco Rose speaks to TNT Sports. “Excited for the club … everyone is really happy for our fans … it wasn’t necessary to rotate too much … we need to take care of the Liverpool game on Sunday but first of all we want to win this game … the team played well so far, even if the results are not looking like this … we have to be ready.”
Bournemouth team news
Real Sociedad: Marrero, Beitia, Martin, Sarr, Gomez, Fort, Turrientes, Herrera, Barrenetxea, Oyarzabal, Oskarsson.
Subs: Remiro, Munoz, Gorrotxategi, Goncalo Guedes, Ochieng, Kubo, Marin, Pacheco, Soler, Zakharyan, Sucic, Marchal.
AFC Bournemouth: Petrovic, Smith, Hill, Silva, Truffert, Rayan, Scott, Adams, Tavernier, Evanilson, Kluivert.
Subs: Di Gregorio, Cook, Soler, Brooks, Christie, Doak, Diakite, Toth, Rodriguez, Allan.
Bournemouth manager Marco Rose goes with the same XI that started the 2-2 draw with Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
… but Bournemouth are the story tonight. Palace are the reigning Conference League champions; the Lisbon Lions won the European Cup, for goodness sake. They’ve already been down this road. But this evening the Cherries make their debut in continental competition, and their first port of call is the chic city of San Sebastián. Let Ben Fisher tell you about their 17-year journey from the brink of despair to the Basque Country.
Crystal Palace team news
Crystal Palace: Benitez, Richards, Disasi, Ahanor, Khalaili, Timber, Wharton, Mitchell, Kamada, Larsen, Pino.
Subs: Matthews, Canvot, Sarr, Nketiah, McNeil, Tomiyasu, Osorio, Mingueza, Chilwell, Williams, Benetton.
Lech Poznan: Lis, Pereira, Monka, Yegbe, Gurgul, Murawski, Rodriguez, Walemark, Palma, Sayyadmanesh, Ishak.
Subs: Obremski, Pruchniewski, Moutinho, Agnero, Hakans, Bengtsson, Gumny, Jagiello, Szymczak, Skrzypczak.
Palace, making their debut in the Europa League, are unchanged from the 3-2 home defeat to Ipswich Town. Axel Disasi starts despite his dismissal against the Tractor Boys, domestic punishments not carried over into Europe.
Celtic team news
Celtic: Sinisalo, Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Baur, Hassan, Sorensen, Forrest, Duran.
Subs: Johnstone, Doohan, Lotomba, Trusty, Nygren, Hogh, McCowan, Tounekti, Murray, Ralston.
Ferencvaros: Adam Varga, Oliver Nagy, Raemaekers, Gomez, Cadu, Adam Nagy, Corbu, Yusuf, Zachariassen, Arzani, Bagi.
Subs: Dibusz, Zohore, Birmancevic, Keita, Levi, Osvath, Kovacevic, Bero, O’Dowda, Lakatos, Madarasz, Lisztes.
Celtic make four changes following the Scottish League Cup debacle at Ibrox. Viljami Sinisalo replaces Sam Johnstone in goal, Oliver Sorensen takes Benjamin Nygren’s midfield spot, while Haissem Hassan and James Forrest come into the attack at the expense of Kasper Hogh and Sebastien Tounekti.
Two of Matchday 1.2’s matches have started already. The half-times …
Levski Sofia 0-1 Red Bull Salzburg
OFI Crete 1-0 Hoffenheim
Haris Tabakovic opened the scoring for RB Salzburg on 39 minutes; OFI are leading thanks to a goal by Aitor Cantalapiedra on the half-hour. OFI Crete isn’t a travel programme presented by Chris Evans, by the way: OFI stands for Heraklion Sports Club, Heraklion being the largest city on Crete and the fourth-biggest in Greece, and yes I am killing time until the 8pms.
Matchday 1 started yesterday. Of course it did. It was a great night for Sunderland, who enjoyed a successful return to the European stage after a 53-year hiatus; not so great for Ruben Amorim, who is already feeling heat at Milan. Your classified check …
AC Milan 0-2 Benfica
Anderlecht 1-2 Lyon
Ararat Armenia 1-4 Sparta Prague
Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 CM Celje
Hapoel Beer Sheva 0-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Olympiacos 2-1 Jagiellonia Bialystock
Omonia Nicosia 1-0 Celta Vigo
Sturm Graz 0-0 Rennes
Sunderland 1-0 AZ
Preamble
The Europa League is back, baby. This season featuring Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and, somehow, Celtic. All kick-offs are 8pm unless stated. It’s on!
Besiktas v Marseille
Celtic v Ferencvaros
Crystal Palace v Lech Poznan
Juventus v NEC
Levski Sofia v Red Bull Salzburg (5.45)
Lillestrom v Torreense
OFI v Hoffenheim (5.45)
Plzen v Union Saint Gilloise
Real Sociedad v AFC Bournemouth
