Bournemouth beat ten-man Milan 3–0 to keep perfect Europa League start

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Bournemouth made it three wins from three in the Europa League with a 3–0 victory over AC Milan at the Vitality Stadium on Thursday, 22 October. Justin Kluivert, Marcus Tavernier and Amine Adli scored as the hosts maintained their perfect league-phase record.

Kluivert opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the eighth minute after a VAR review identified Koni De Winter’s handball from an Evanilson header. Milan then lost goalkeeper and captain Mike Maignan before the half-hour after he pushed both hands into Tyler Adams’ face at a corner.

The incident brought a second penalty. Tavernier beat replacement goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani in the 32nd minute, leaving Bournemouth two goals ahead and playing against ten men before the interval.

Milan introduced Davide Bartesaghi and Adrien Rabiot for the second half and attempted to work their way back into the contest. Clear chances remained difficult to create. De Winter met a cross from Moreira with a header in the 75th minute, but Bournemouth cleared it behind for a corner.

Adli completed the scoring with a free-kick in the 84th minute. Torriani subsequently denied Rayan, preventing the home side from extending the margin further in the closing stages.

The result continued an impressive first European campaign for Bournemouth, who moved to third in the table. It also followed their first Premier League victory of the season, against Sunderland at the weekend.

Marco Rose’s team next travel to Sparta Prague in the competition on 5 November, when Milan host Ferencváros. Bournemouth joined Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Ferencváros and Olympiacos in retaining a maximum return after the opening three rounds.