Europa League matchday 2 preview: Lyon host Crystal Palace, Milan go to Salzburg, Benfica welcome Celtic

All eighteen matches of the second round are on Thursday, in two waves. The pick of the early kick-offs is Lyon against Crystal Palace, two of the sixteen clubs who won on the opening night, with Palace's new manager Pierre Sage back at the club that sacked him, while AC Milan, beaten 2–0 at home by Benfica, go to Red Bull Salzburg. In the evening Benfica host Celtic, and Juventus, top of the table after a 5–0 win over NEC, travel to Celta Vigo. Sunderland and Torreense, both winners in the first round, meet in Leiria.

The early kick-offs

AZ Alkmaar v Hapoel Beer Sheva (16:45 UTC, AFAS Stadion). AZ lost 1–0 at Sunderland to a second-half penalty and 2–0 at Feyenoord on Saturday. Hapoel Beer Sheva drew 0–0 with Dinamo Zagreb and have won both Israeli league matches since.

Celje v Omonia Nicosia (16:45 UTC, Stadion Z'dežele). Celje lost 2–0 at Leverkusen; Omonia beat Celta 1–0 with an 88th-minute goal by J. Balkovec and won 3–0 at Karmiotissa on Friday.

Lech Poznań v Bayer Leverkusen (16:45 UTC, Stadion Miejski). Lech are 35th after a 4–0 defeat at Palace but won 4–1 at Śląsk Wrocław on Saturday. Leverkusen beat Celje 2–0 and are fourth in the Bundesliga after winning 4–3 at Mainz.

Lyon v Crystal Palace (16:45 UTC, Groupama Stadium). Lyon won 2–1 at Anderlecht, with both goals in the first 22 minutes, and are fourth in Ligue 1, though they lost 2–1 at Lens on Friday. Palace are second in the table after their 4–0 against Lech and beat Nottingham Forest 3–1 on Sunday. AFP calls the night a special one for Sage, who got his coaching break at Lyon; being sacked was part of the job, he said, but "it was more leaving Lyon that was difficult for me". Before the Forest match the club quoted him expecting Jean-Philippe Mateta, Dean Henderson and Takehiro Tomiyasu back for Lyon or for Brighton three days later. The only meeting in the API is a pre-season friendly Palace won 2–0 in August 2023.

Union Saint-Gilloise v Real Sociedad (16:45 UTC, Den Dreef, Leuven). Union play their European home matches at OH Leuven's ground because the Stade Joseph Marien does not meet the requirements, Belga reports; it lists Adem Zorgane as suspended and Kevin Mac Allister and Ross Sykes among the injured. Union won 3–0 at Plzeň. Real Sociedad lost 2–1 at home to Bournemouth but are sixth in La Liga after a 3–2 against Deportivo La Coruña.

Red Bull Salzburg v AC Milan (16:45 UTC, Red Bull Arena). Salzburg won 1–0 at Levski with a goal by H. Tabaković and drew 0–0 at Grazer AK on Saturday. The Salzburger Nachrichten reports that their captain, Nikolas Veratschnig, will be out for a long time with a ligament injury from Austria duty, and that Strahinja Pavlović returns to his old club with Milan. Milan are fifth in Serie A and unbeaten after six matches, but drew 1–1 at Sassuolo on Sunday, where Matteo Gabbia was carried off on a stretcher with a muscle problem; on Tuesday Alexis Saelemaekers had surgery on his right ankle, the club said. The clubs met in the Champions League group stage in 2022: 1–1 in Salzburg in September, 4–0 to Milan at San Siro in November.

Sparta Praha v Lillestrøm (16:45 UTC, Letná). Sparta won 4–1 in Yerevan, T. Guddal scoring twice two minutes apart, and beat Pardubice 2–0 on Sunday. Lillestrøm lost 2–1 at home to Torreense and drew 2–2 with Molde.

Torreense v Sunderland (16:45 UTC, Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria). Torreense, of the Portuguese second division, won 2–1 in Lillestrøm despite finishing with ten men, and lost 1–0 at Tondela on Saturday. Sunderland beat AZ 1–0 with an E. Le Fée penalty and are seventeenth in the Premier League after a 2–0 home defeat by Brighton.

The evening

Benfica v Celtic (19:00 UTC, Estádio da Luz). Benfica won 2–0 at San Siro through D. Lukebakio and J. Kamiński, and beat Vitória 2–0 on Sunday. Celtic lost 3–1 at home to Ferencváros and won 2–0 at Motherwell, which the club marked as Martin O'Neill's 250th win as Celtic manager. A Bola reports that Cameron Carter-Vickers is injured, with Dane Murray the likely partner for Liam Scales, and Record that Jota played again at Motherwell, eighteen months after rupturing a cruciate ligament. The last two meetings in the API were in the 2012–13 Champions League group stage: 0–0 at Celtic Park, 2–1 to Benfica in Lisbon.

Bournemouth v Sturm Graz (19:00 UTC, Vitality Stadium). Bournemouth won 2–1 at Real Sociedad but are eighteenth in the Premier League, still without a league win, after losing 5–1 at Chelsea. Sturm drew 0–0 with Rennes and won 2–0 at Austria Vienna; APA reports that Otar Kiteishvili hurt his calf again with Georgia.

Celta Vigo v Juventus (19:00 UTC, Balaídos). Celta lost 1–0 in Nicosia and are ninth in La Liga with one win in eight, five of the others draws, the last 0–0 at Elche on Sunday. Juventus top the table after beating NEC 5–0 with five different scorers, and drew 1–1 at Cagliari.

Dinamo Zagreb v Anderlecht (19:00 UTC, Maksimir). Dinamo drew 0–0 with Hapoel and lost 2–1 at Hajduk Split; Anderlecht lost 2–1 to Lyon. In the 2018–19 Europa League group stage Dinamo won 2–0 in Brussels and it was 0–0 in Zagreb.

Ferencváros v Plzeň (19:00 UTC, Groupama Aréna). Ferencváros won 3–1 at Celtic Park; Plzeň are 34th after a 3–0 home defeat by Union. They drew 1–1 in Budapest in September 2025; in the February 2025 knockout play-off Ferencváros won 1–0 at home and Plzeň 3–0 in the return.

Hoffenheim v Beşiktaş (19:00 UTC, PreZero Arena). Hoffenheim lost 2–0 at OFI and are seventeenth in the Bundesliga with three points from five matches after a 3–2 home defeat by Hamburg; "crisis is always a big word," Christian Ilzer said afterwards, according to dpa. Patrick Wimmer is out for several weeks with a hamstring injury, APA reports. Beşiktaş beat Marseille 4–1 and Kocaelispor 2–1 on Sunday; Anadolu names Václav Černý, a scorer in that 4–1, as their only absentee.

Jagiellonia v Ararat-Armenia (19:00 UTC, Białystok). Both lost on the opening night: Jagiellonia 2–1 at Olympiakos, Ararat-Armenia 4–1 to Sparta. The API has no previous meeting.

Marseille v Olympiakos (19:00 UTC, Vélodrome). Marseille are 32nd after a 4–1 defeat in Istanbul and thirteenth in Ligue 1, but won 2–0 at Troyes on Sunday, a result their coach said they had to build on against Olympiakos, according to AFP; Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was injured during the international break. Olympiakos came from behind to beat Jagiellonia 2–1 and beat Panathinaikos 1–0 on Sunday. Their four meetings in the API, all in the Champions League group stage, were won by a single goal: each side won 1–0 away in 2011, Olympiakos 1–0 at home and Marseille 2–1 at home in 2020.

NEC Nijmegen v Levski Sofia (19:00 UTC, De Goffert). NEC are bottom after losing 5–0 in Turin, and drew 1–1 at Ajax on Saturday. Levski lost 1–0 at home to Salzburg.

Rennes v OFI (19:00 UTC, Roazhon Park). Rennes drew 0–0 in Graz and are third in Ligue 1 after beating Auxerre 4–1. OFI beat Hoffenheim 2–0 and lost 3–0 at AEK Athens on Saturday.

The table after one round

Sixteen clubs won on the opening night, two matches were drawn 0–0, and eight of the sixteen wins came away from home. Juventus lead on goal difference from Palace, Sparta and Beşiktaş; NEC, Lech, Plzeň, Ararat-Armenia and Marseille are at the bottom. The top eight go straight to the round of 16, and ninth to 24th go to the knockout play-offs.

Numbers to know

• 47 goals were scored on matchday 1, 2.6 a match.
• T. Guddal of Sparta is the only player to have scored twice in the league phase.
• Two matches pair first-round winners: Lyon v Palace and Torreense v Sunderland. Two pair sides who lost: Jagiellonia v Ararat-Armenia and NEC v Levski.

The full round, with kick-offs in your time zone, is on the Europa League page.

Sources for the context: AFP via France 24, AFP via France 24, Belga via DH, APA via Salzburger Nachrichten, APA via Salzburger Nachrichten, dpa via Die Rheinpfalz, Anadolu, AC Milan, AC Milan, Crystal Palace, Celtic, Salzburger Nachrichten, Salzburger Nachrichten, A Bola, Record.