Anderlecht progressed to the knockout stages of the Europa League after they maintained their 100% winning record in Group L by beating 10-man Sturm Graz 3-0.

The Belgian club only needed one more point to progress to the last 32 and they claimed it thanks to goals by Guillaume Gillet, Matias Suarez and Tom De Sutter.

Gillet scored in the 23rd minute before Suarez and De Sutter sealed the win in the second half after Sturm defender Ferdinand Feldhofer was sent off for his second bookable offence.

The result leaves Austrian side Sturm third in the group on three points, three behind Lokomotiv Moscow who beat AEK Athens 3-1 in Thursday's other group match.

There was an open start to the match but Sturm were forced into an early substitution when striker Andreas Hoelzl was replaced by midfielder Patrick Wolf due to injury in the eighth minute.

Anderlecht striker Suarez showed his intentions early on when his 20-yard strike was parried by Silvije Cavlina in the ninth minute before Sturm's Manuel Weber tried his luck at the other end with a speculative 25-yard strike which flew wide.

Cavlina then comfortably dealt with Suarez's weak close-range header before saving Milan Jovanovic's testing cross. Wolf almost put Sturm in front in the 20th minute but Anderlecht goalkeeper Silvio Proto saved the ball with his feet.

However, Gillet opened the scoring three minutes later with a low drive from the middle of the penalty area after he connected with Suarez's cross.

Jovanovic then tested the Sturm defence, with his 18-yard strike going wide before Cavlina saved another attempt just after the half hour mark. Lukas Marecek then fired his shot over the bar as Anderlecht started to dominate.

After the break, Sturm midfielder Manuel Weber fired a 25-yard shot just wide of the post before he blasted another shot over the bar as the visitors searched for the equaliser.

However, Sturm were reduced to 10 men in the 59th minute when Feldhofer saw red for his second bookable offence after he fouled Suarez.

And it was Suarez who scored Anderlecht's second goal when he headed home Marcin Wasilewski's cross from the left wing.

De Sutter added the third seven minutes later with a left-footed strike into the bottom corner from 18 yards to seal the convincing win and maintaining Anderlecht's unbeapten European campaign.