Sunderland had not played a competitive match in Europe for 53 years. On Wednesday night that changed at the Stadium of Light, where Enzo Le Fée’s second-half penalty sealed a 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar and a historic return to the continent.

The French midfielder had already hit the post before he was brought down by AZ substitute Weslley Patati inside the area in the 66th minute. Le Fée picked himself up and converted from the spot.

At the San Siro, an equally significant story unfolded in favour of the visitors. Benfica beat Milan 2-0 for the first time between the clubs. Dodi Lukébakio cut inside from the right flank and curled the opener into the bottom corner in the 16th minute; nine minutes after the restart, Jakub Kamiński rifled home a low Souffian El Karouani cross from six yards out.

Lyon race clear at Anderlecht

Lyon were 2-0 up at the Lotto Park inside 22 minutes. Noah Nartey struck in the 8th minute and a deflected Keito Nakamura effort doubled the lead in the 22nd. Mihajlo Cvetković pulled one back in the 61st minute, but the visitors held on for a 2-1 win.

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Sparta Praha opened the Europa League scoreboard for 2026/27 through Norwegian forward Tobias Guddal, who scored the first two goals of the season inside a 4-1 win over Ararat-Armenia.

The rest of Wednesday’s board

Olympiacos edged Jagiellonia 2-1 in Piraeus. Bayer Leverkusen dispatched Celje 2-0 at the BayArena. Omonia beat Celta 1-0 in Nicosia for the Cypriot club’s first European win since December 2020, and both Sturm Graz-Rennes and Hapoel Beer-Sheva-Dinamo Zagreb ended goalless.

Thursday’s nine still to come

Matchday 1 completes on Thursday with another nine fixtures across the 36-team league phase. OFI Crete host Hoffenheim and Levski Sofia face Salzburg in the early kick-offs at 7:45pm local time.

Later in the evening, Beşiktaş meet Marseille in Istanbul, Celtic welcome Ferencváros to Glasgow, and Crystal Palace host Lech Poznań at Selhurst Park. Juventus start their campaign at home to N.E.C. Nijmegen, Real Sociedad face Bournemouth in San Sebastián, Viktoria Plzeň play Union SG, and Lillestrøm host Torreense.

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The full league phase table will settle only once all 18 matchday 1 games are in the books, with matchday 2 scheduled for the first week of October.

Sources: – [UEFA Europa League matchday 1 round-up](https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/02a9-219ba00d8c3a-2fc9c36259e8-1000–europa-league-matchday-1-round-up-benfica-sunderland-lyon/) – [The42, Sunderland v AZ Alkmaar report](https://www.the42.ie/sunderland-az-alkmaar-match-report-7164741-Sep2026/) – [2026/27 Europa League fixtures, UEFA](https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/02a8-2174cafa5bb6-82bbc20c9b92-1000–2026-27-europa-league-all-the-league-phase-fixtures/)

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