Bournemouth beat Sturm Graz 3-0 on historic European home debut

Bournemouth marked their first European home fixture with a 3-0 victory over Sturm Graz at the Vitality Stadium on Thursday, October 15. Evanilson, Rayan and Álvaro Rodríguez scored, with TNT Sports reporting that the result maintained the hosts’ winning start to the Europa League league phase.

Watch the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EB2NwMIX7w

The home side created opportunities well before taking the lead. According to TNT Sports’ live coverage, Marcus Tavernier missed an early chance, while Rodríguez shot wide and later failed to connect cleanly with a back-flick. Tyler Adams also made an important defensive intervention, chasing down Belmin Beganovic after the Sturm striker broke through and recovering possession near the penalty area.

Evanilson broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute. AS reported that Adam Smith supplied the cross for his header, after Bournemouth had already seen a Bafode Diakité effort disallowed for handball and Tavernier hit the post. The hosts went into half-time a goal ahead.

Rayan increased the advantage in the 76th minute after being introduced alongside Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert. According to AS, goalkeeper Daniil Khudyakov failed to gather a corner before Rayan’s shot beat him. Rodríguez then converted a stoppage-time penalty, completing the scoring and leaving the visitors without a goal in reply.

TNT Sports recorded Rodríguez’s penalty in the second minute of added time. Bournemouth’s earlier 2-1 victory away to Real Sociedad means they now have six points from their opening two European matches. Sturm, meanwhile, had started their league-phase campaign with a goalless home draw against Rennes before travelling to England.

The result followed a difficult domestic outing for Marco Rose’s side. Bournemouth’s own account of their previous match confirmed a 5-1 defeat at Chelsea, where Evanilson scored their only goal. In a separate club interview after that loss, Adrien Truffert acknowledged shortcomings in the performance and stressed the need to collect their first Premier League victory. He had identified the European home fixture as an opportunity to regain momentum. Bournemouth have now taken that opportunity, although Thursday’s win changes their European record rather than their league position.