Europa League: Sunderland lose at home to Zagreb while Celtic enjoy first win

Sunderland ’s unbeaten run in the Europa League came to an end as they were beaten 2-0 by Dinamo Zagreb at the Stadium of Light.

Dinamo went ahead through Luka Stojkovic’s fierce strike and the midfielder turned provider for Dion Drena Beljo to double their advantage before the break.

Sunderland had opportunities to get back into it as Wilson Isidor’s header was chalked off for offside two minutes after the restart and Kevin Danso hit the crossbar before Brian Brobbey went close.

However, Régis Le Bris’ side ultimately fell to their first defeat in four Europa League matches to continue a worrying run of form, with the club bottom of the Premier League.

Substitutes Callum Osmand and Camilo Durán sparked Celtic into life as the Scottish champions got off the mark in the Europa League in a 3-2 victory over Besiktas .

Martin O’Neill’s side were heading for a seventh defeat in 11 matches and bottom place when Junior Olaitan netted on the rebound after Sam Johnstone had saved his 54th-minute penalty.

But Osmand drilled home the equaliser with his first touch in the 62nd minute, seconds after coming off the bench in a triple change, and the 20-year-old set up Durán to put the hosts in front.

Besiktas substitute Orkun Kokcu equalised from long range but Celtic went back in front within 60 seconds when Durán stabbed home an 87th-minute winner from six yards.

The win hands Celtic a fighting chance of progressing especially with Portuguese second-tier side Torreense as their next opponents.

Bournemouth extended their winning run to seven matches as Evanilson’s wonderful late goal helped earn a 3-1 win away to 10-man Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Marco Rose’s side have enjoyed a dream start to the club’s debut European season and they will be confident of securing direct passage to the last 16 after making it four victories from four, but they were made to work hard for the points in the Czech capital.

They went behind in the first half to a piece of individual brilliance by Gambian forward Ebrima Singhateh, minutes after Lewis Cook had spurned the chance to give them the lead when his penalty struck a post. But Tobias Guddal let his team down badly when he picked up a second yellow card within two minutes of his side taking the lead.

Bournemouth had not conceded a goal on their six-game winning streak and they responded to the setback of falling behind by punishing Guddal’s error, levelling in the 57th minute when Tyler Adams smashed a loose ball into the bottom corner.

From then on there looked like being only one winner. Evanilson’s 81st-minute effort, finished low across the goalkeeper, put them in front before Rayan added gloss with a third at the death.

Fabian Hürzeler saluted a professional performance from Brighton after they beat Getafe 1-0 in the Conference League.

Malick Yalcouyé scored his fourth goal of the season to break the deadlock in a hard-fought encounter in Madrid.

The Seagulls are now the only team not to have conceded a goal in the competition so far and their seven points from three matches leaves them fifth in the table.

“It’s what we expected,” said Hürzeler. “These games in the Conference League are different. You have to beat the low block. We didn’t play our best game, to be fair. But in the end we kept a clean sheet, the fifth clean sheet in a row in this tournament, and then we scored the goal and I think we deserved to win this game.”

The Swiss side Lugano are top of the Conference League, with maximum points after a 3-0 win over Kauno Zalgiris at the AIL Arena.

Panathinaikos beat CSKA Sofia 2-1 to also make it three straight wins, Twente beat 10-man Pafos 3-1 and Monaco saw off Nordsjælland 2-0 to extend their own 100% start.

Ajax ran out 6-1 winners away to 10-man Midtjylland , while a depleted Hearts side lost 3-1 away to Thun in Switzerland.

Milan lost 2-0 at home to Ferencvaros as the Hungarians kept pace with Bournemouth, maintaining their 100% record in Europe.

Haiti international Lenny Joseph struck twice in the second half at San Siro to earn Ferencvaros a deserved win over the seven-time European champions despite having Bamidele Yusuf sent off.

Milan are languishing outside the top 24 with just three points at the halfway stage of the league phase. “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’s 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 Bayer 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 half-time, 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.