Benfica go top as Juventus win while Sunderland and Bayer Leverkusen suffer first Europa League defeats

Benfica moved to the top of the Europa League standings after beating Lech Poznan 3-1, while Juventus claimed a 2-1 away victory against AZ Alkmaar in the fourth round of the league phase.

Benfica took control early when Rafa Silva opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Gianluca Prestianni doubled the Portuguese side’s advantage in the 67th minute before Georgiy Sudakov completed the scoring in the 90th minute.

The result lifted Benfica to 12 points, level with English club Bournemouth and Hungarian side Ferencvarosi.

Juventus also secured three points on the road, defeating AZ Alkmaar 2-1 in the Netherlands.

Teun Koopmeiners put Juventus ahead in the 19th minute, with Randal Kolo Muani adding a second 18 minutes later. Mexx Meerdink pulled one back for the home side in the 88th minute, but Juventus held on for victory.

The Italian club climbed to fifth place with 10 points, while AZ Alkmaar remained 14th on six points.

Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten start to the competition ended as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Marseille.

Amine Gouiri scored the only goal of the match in the 77th minute, giving Marseille their first Europa League win of the season after they had lost their opening three matches.

The victory moved Marseille up to 31st place. Bayer Leverkusen, who had won their previous three games, suffered their first defeat and stayed seventh with nine points.

Sunderland also lost for the first time in the competition, going down 2-1 at home to Dinamo Zagreb.

The Croatian side took control through goals from Luka Stojkovic and Dion Beljo in the 22nd and 39th minutes respectively.

Wilson Isidor reduced the deficit for Sunderland two minutes after half-time, but the hosts could not find an equaliser.

Sunderland remain 11th with seven points, while Dinamo Zagreb moved ahead of them into ninth place with the same total.