Bournemouth’s perfect Europa League run continues after wild comeback win

Europa League: Bournemouth stay perfect while Milan humbled at home.

Bournemouth extended their winning run to seven matches across all competitions.

Evanilson’s wonderful late goal helped earn a 3-1 win away to 10-man Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Marco Rose’s side have enjoyed a dream start to the club’s debut European season.

They will be confident of securing direct passage to the last 16 after making it four victories from four.

But they were made to work hard for the points in the Czech capital.

They went behind in the first half to a piece of individual brilliance by Gambian forward Ebrima Singhateh.

That goal came minutes after Lewis Cook had spurned the chance to give them the lead.

Cook’s penalty struck a post and bounced away.

Tobias Guddal let his team down badly when he picked up a second yellow card within two minutes of his side taking the lead.

Bournemouth had not conceded a goal on their six-game winning streak before this match.

They responded to the setback of falling behind by punishing Guddal’s error.

The equalizer came in the 57th minute.

Tyler Adams smashed a loose ball into the bottom corner.

From then on there looked like being only one winner.

Evanilson’s 81st-minute effort, finished low across the goalkeeper, put them in front.

Rayan added gloss with a third at the death.

The win keeps Bournemouth top of the Europa League league phase table.

Milan lost 2-0 at home to Ferencvaros on the same night.

The Hungarians kept pace with Bournemouth, maintaining their own 100% record in Europe.

Haiti international Lenny Joseph struck twice in the second half at San Siro.

Ferencvaros earned a deserved win over the seven-time European champions.

They did it despite having Bamidele Yusuf sent off.

Milan are languishing outside the top 24 with just three points at the halfway stage of the league phase.

For a Bournemouth side which had kept six clean sheets in a row prior to tonight, their start was something of a surprise.

Sparta created two gilt-edged chances inside the opening five minutes.

Both fell the way of Jonatan Braut Brunes.

Josimar Alcocer created the first one, jinking his way to the byline before finding the unmarked Brunes six yards out, who turned wide.

The second opportunity saw a stunning last-ditch block inside the area deny Sparta’s big-money summer signing the opening goal.

Those misses appeared to be costly on the half-hour mark.

Ki-Jana Hoever handled the ball inside the area and conceded a penalty.

Lewis Cook assumed responsibility from the spot.

He failed where Marcus Tavernier and Justin Kluivert succeeded against AC Milan on matchday three.

Cook rolled his penalty against the inside of the post.

The Cherries paid the ultimate price for that miss.

They conceded their first goal in over 550 minutes of football.

A stunning solo run from Ebrima Singhateh ended with him weaving between two defenders and slotting into the bottom corner.

Sparta shot themselves in the foot two minutes later.

Tobias Guddal’s wrestling match with Alvaro Rodriguez earned him a second yellow card.

The Czech side were always likely to have their backs against the wall after the break.

Their resistance was broken within 15 minutes of the restart.

Sparta lost the ball in their defensive third and were punished in brutal fashion.

Bournemouth sprung a lightning-quick counter and levelled the scores through half-time substitute Tyler Adams.

He stroked home a loose ball.

Pressure was relentless on the Sparta goal.

Breaking through was proving to be problematic for Bournemouth.

They came close 20 minutes from time when David Brooks’ curling effort was palmed away by Jakub Surovcik.

A huge chance came and went on 80 minutes.

Rodriguez danced his way into the area and saw his left-footed toe poke turned around the post by Surovcik.

That was little more than a temporary reprieve for Sparta.

They found themselves behind moments later.

The fleet-footed Evanilson worked himself a yard inside the area and squeezed an effort into the far post.

Rayan placed the game beyond doubt in the dying moments.

He arrowed home from distance to complete the turnaround.

The Cherries’ winning run now stands at an incredible seven matches.

Their winning start to the UEL campaign stands at four games.

That all but secures their spot in the knockout phase.

The Europa League league phase runs from matchday one through matchday eight.

The top eight teams after eight matches advance directly to the round of 16.

Teams finishing ninth through 24th enter a playoff round.

Bournemouth currently sit in the top eight with a perfect record.