Europa League Matchday 3 produced 63 goals across 18 matches. Bournemouth swept Milan aside, Juventus dropped points for the first time, and Lyon followed two straight wins with a surprise 3-0 defeat to Hoffenheim. Five teams still have perfect records after three rounds, but the battle for a top-eight finish is heating up.
Ahead of the round, we recorded the 888STARZ odds for six key fixtures. Four favourites delivered, while two failed to win. But the underlying numbers tell a more interesting story: not every result was as convincing as the pre-match odds suggested.
Bournemouth 3-0 AC Milan
Bournemouth were favourites, although the 888STARZ odds of 2.25 / 3.63 / 3.21 hardly pointed to such a one-sided contest.
Justin Kluivert opened the scoring from the penalty spot after just eight minutes. Mike Maignan’s dismissal then left Milan in serious trouble. Marcus Tavernier converted another penalty before Amine Adli completed the scoring with a free kick.
The numbers were emphatic: 3.14 to 0.11 on xG, 20 shots to three and 33 touches in the opposition box to nine. The red card clearly shaped the contest, but Bournemouth kept creating chances even with a comfortable lead.
The home win at 2.25 came in. Bournemouth have nine points from three games and a goal difference of 8-1. After beating Real Sociedad, Sturm Graz and Milan, their impressive Europa League debut can hardly be dismissed as the product of an easy schedule.
Juventus 2-2 Rennes
Juventus entered the game with six points and were clear favourites at 888STARZ: 1.61 / 4.31 / 5.58. Yet Zeki Çelik’s early opener was not enough. Rennes struck twice before half-time, and only a Nick Woltemade penalty spared the hosts defeat.
Juventus finished ahead on xG, 2.21 to 1.76, but Rennes actually registered more shots, 16 to 14. The French side created plenty of openings of their own, so calling this draw simply bad luck for Juventus would miss the point.
The draw at 4.31 paid out. Juventus remain unbeaten with seven points, but this was the first team to stop them from controlling the game for long stretches. Ahead of their trip to AZ, there is a clear concern: Juventus create enough to win, but they are not always convincing when defending without the ball.
Beşiktaş 2-2 Crystal Palace
Four goals from a combined xG of just 1.13 made this one of the most unusual matches of the round. There were only 13 shots between the two teams, yet almost every successful finish ended up on the scoresheet.
Crystal Palace turned the match around in the second half, but Beşiktaş fought back and held on for a draw despite Ümit Akdağ’s dismissal.
888STARZ: 2.15 / 3.82 / 3.29 — the draw at 3.82 came in. Palace had far more touches in the opposition box, 24 to ten, but neither team produced many genuinely clear-cut chances.
Beşiktaş now have seven points, while Palace have four. The warning for both teams is obvious: scoring four goals from so little xG is not the kind of finishing efficiency they can expect every week.
Hoffenheim 3-0 Lyon
Lyon arrived with six points. Hoffenheim had none. Yet the odds favoured the German side: 888STARZ — 2.07 / 3.98 / 3.37.
The performance backed up that assessment. Hoffenheim led 2.09 to 0.87 on xG, outshot Lyon 21-8 and created far more dangerous situations.
Lyon enjoyed 57% possession but rarely turned it into genuine attacking threat. Goals from Andrej Kramarić, Adam Daghim and Adam Hložek gave Hoffenheim their first points of the campaign.
The home win at 2.07 came in. This was one of the clearest examples of the odds providing a better guide to the balance of power than the standings. Lyon suffered their first defeat, and the gap in performance was every bit as clear as the scoreline.
Two More Matches From Our Odds Selection
Benfica comfortably beat Omonia 4-1, justifying their status as heavy favourites. The away win at 1.41 came in. The Portuguese side led 3.02 to 0.83 on xG and registered 23 shots to seven. Benfica now have nine points and ten goals, the highest scoring total in the competition.
Celta Vigo claimed their first victory with a 2-1 win at Celtic. The away win at 2.60 paid out, and the performance deserved it: 1.21 to 0.51 on xG and 22 shots to eight. Celtic have now lost all three matches and conceded nine goals, leaving their knockout-stage hopes under serious pressure.
Other Matchday 3 Results
Real Sociedad recorded the biggest win of the round, hammering Lillestrøm 6-0. Bayer Leverkusen beat OFI 2-0 and remain the only team yet to concede. Ferencváros defeated Torreense 4-1, Olympiacos edged Sparta 1-0, and Sturm Graz handed Marseille their third straight defeat with a 1-0 win.
AZ thrashed Ararat-Armenia 4-0, NEC beat Dinamo Zagreb 4-2, Union defeated Hapoel Be’er Sheva 4-0, and Anderlecht won 3-0 against Jagiellonia. Levski beat Viktoria Plzeň 2-1, while Lech Poznań drew 1-1 with Sunderland and Celje shared the points with Salzburg in a 2-2 draw.
What the 888STARZ Odds Told Us
Of our six featured matches, four favourites delivered: Bournemouth at 2.25, Hoffenheim at 2.07, Benfica at 1.41 and Celta Vigo at 2.60.
Juventus at 1.61 and Beşiktaş at 2.15 were the two favourites who failed to win. Instead, the draws came in at 4.31 and 3.82 respectively.
But counting winning favourites only tells part of the story. Bournemouth thoroughly outplayed Milan, although Maignan’s red card helped produce such a wide margin. Hoffenheim justified their favourite status despite starting the round with zero points, while Juventus failed to turn their edge in chance quality into a victory.
Beşiktaş was a different case altogether. Four goals from a combined 1.13 xG show just how far a single result can stray from the quality of chances created.
The verdict: four winning favourites from six matches, but the more useful lesson for future rounds is how closely each result matched the actual performance, not simply which odds paid out.
The Main Takeaways After Matchday 3
Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Bournemouth, Ferencváros and Olympiacos all retain perfect records. Benfica lead the standings thanks to their scoring form, Bayer are yet to concede, and Bournemouth are already shaping up as one of the tournament’s biggest surprises.
Juventus and Beşiktaş remain in the top eight despite dropping points for the first time. Hoffenheim put themselves back in contention with an emphatic win over Lyon, while Marseille and Celtic are under serious pressure after three straight defeats.
Matchday 4 takes place on 5 November. Sparta host Bournemouth, AZ face Juventus, and Bayer Leverkusen take on Marseille. These fixtures should give us a clearer picture of which clubs can build on their strong starts and which will have to fight for a place in the top 24.
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