Juventus and Crystal Palace Cruise in Europa League Openers, Celtic Suffer Another European Blow

The Europa League league phase opened with statement wins for several of the competition's bigger names, as Juventus thrashed NEC Nijmegen 5-0 and Crystal Palace marked their first-ever Europa League appearance with a 4-0 win over Lech Poznan.

Juventus, playing continental football outside the Champions League for the first time in years after missing out last season, were far too strong for their Dutch visitors in Turin, with goals from Nico Gonzalez, Kerim Alajbegovic and Nick Woltemade, who scored his first goal since joining on loan from Newcastle. Conference League holders Crystal Palace made home advantage count at Selhurst Park, with Yeremy Pino, Chris Richards, a Jorgen Strand Larsen penalty and Eddie Nketiah all getting on the scoresheet.

Bournemouth marked their first-ever European match in style, winning 2-1 away at Real Sociedad, while Celtic endured another chastening European night, losing 3-1 at home to Ferencvaros just days after a 3-0 derby defeat to Rangers, continuing a miserable run of European form for the Scottish champions following their earlier Champions League qualifying exit to LASK.