Milan lose at home, Leverkusen start Europa League with win

AC Milan's Portuguese contingent were humbled 2-0 at home by Benfica on Wednesday in their Europa League opener as Bayer Leverkusen overcame NK Celje by the same score in Germany.

Seven-time European champions Milan, who have never won Europe's second-tier competition, went behind on 16 minutes when Dodi Lukébakio cut inside and fired into the bottom corner from 20 metres.

The Lisbon side were 2-0 up early in the second period through Jakub Kamiński.

Benfica, twice European champions in the 1960s who have also never won the UEFA Cup/Europa League, hit the post too as they easily got the better of fellow Portuguese Ruben Amorim and his heavily rotated Milan side. 

Milan's Portugal striker Gonçalo Ramos, who began his career at Benfica, was largely ineffectual as the away side recorded a first win at the San Siro.

Lukebakio told Sport TV: "I'm happy to be able to help my team. It was a very important win - we'd never won here before - it was historic, and it felt great to have the fans' support."

Leverkusen have endured an up-and-down start to the Bundesliga season but were boosted on 15 minutes when Svit Sešlar deflected Alexi Garcia's cross into his own goal.

The Werkself - 2024 runners-up - are the top-ranked team in the Europa League based on UEFA co-efficients and did enough to see off the Slovenians, Facundo Medina volleying in a corner on 74.

Celta Vigo beaten

Lyon won 2-1 at Anderlecht and Sunderland, in their first European action since 1973, edged AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in England's North East thanks to Enzo Le Fée's penalty.

"You could hear the fans today. They deserved to live this after a tough period," he told TNT Sports.

Olympiacos came from behind to beat Poland's Jagiellonia Białystok 2-1 in Greece, Sturm Graz were held 0-0 by Rennes and Israel's Hapoel Beer-Sheva also drew 0-0 with Dinamo Zagreb in a game played in Bucharest. 

Ararat-Armenia, the first Armenian club to qualify for the Europa League proper, earlier lost 4-1 at home to Sparta Prague.

Norwegian Tobias Guddal scored twice in quick succession for Sparta midway through the first half in Yerevan. First he headed in a corner and then rifled home after the hosts had failed to deal with another corner. 

John Mercado and Patrik Vydra added to the Czech side's score after the break, but there was something to cheer for home fans when Bruno Wilson pulled a goal back.

In the other early kick-off, Omonia Nicosia beat Spaniards Celta Vigo 1-0 in Cyprus.

The nine remaining games on matchday 1 take place on Thursday, including Juventus v Dutch side NEC, Real Sociedad v Bournemouth and OFI Crete v Hoffenheim.