⚽ UEFA Europa League 2026-2027 🥈

[Xyloo]

One of the day’s unexpected results was Rangers’ loss. Although they scored in the opening minutes against Jagiellonia, they were unable to stop Kajetan Szmyt’s goals—which came seven minutes apart—and lost the match due to the goals scored in the first half. I would have expected Rangers to at least avoid a loss in this away game, but Jagiellonia proved they are a team not to be taken lightly. Rangers will most likely win their home game and advance to the next round.

Rangers are currently far from their past successes. In the first leg in Poland, Jagiellonia were the dominant team throughout the match. We all know Rangers from their past achievements and considered them the favorites in this tie. However, the Polish side gave them no chance and managed to beat them. The Rangers goalkeeper prevented a larger margin of defeat. In the return leg in Scotland, they must play very well to close the gap and advance to the next round because Jagiellonia showed in yesterday's match that it's not an easy win.

[Jossque]

Maccabi Tel Aviv lost at home in a match where they were the favorites. Everyone probably expected Maccabi Tel Aviv to win, but we can say they suffered a defeat that will make advancing to the next round difficult. Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Maccabi Tel Aviv conceded another goal in the final minutes of the second half, making their chances of advancing much slimmer.
Omonia failed to win the match in which they were the favorites and settled for a draw. A draw isn’t a bad result for them, but it was a match they could have won. The fact that they secured a draw with a last-minute goal against Lincoln is at least encouraging for them.

[LTU_btc]

One of the day’s unexpected results was Rangers’ loss. Although they scored in the opening minutes against Jagiellonia, they were unable to stop Kajetan Szmyt’s goals—which came seven minutes apart—and lost the match due to the goals scored in the first half. I would have expected Rangers to at least avoid a loss in this away game, but Jagiellonia proved they are a team not to be taken lightly. Rangers will most likely win their home game and advance to the next round.

I wouldn't call it surprise. It's enough to see results of Svottish clubs in Europe in recent years. Bet against Scottish clubs in European games and you will be in profit. Though, I must say that I didn't expected that Hearts will be that bad like they're from amateur league. First getting trashed by Sturm and now by Benfica. It's not same team  that was fighting for Scottish league title and wasted it in last rounds.

[Daniel91]

Benfica totally destroyed Hearts in yesterday match and this is just first leg. Imagine what the aggregate scoreline will be if they play in the second leg. There's nothing Hearts can do anymore, I feel the strategy will be to defend in order not to concede more goals. I even thought that Heart will go far in this Europe after their amazing performance last season. But Benfica is bigger and better team, with alot quality players, this game just looked like they are facing a division team in their league. I wish a big teams can come for Vangelis Pavlidis, Bro is on a goal spree in this qualifiers.

Benfica should be playing in the Champions League and not Europa League, unfortunately for them they couldn’t qualify for the Champions League, I saw the game last night, Benfica totally dominated the game, It felt like a training game, I just have to Change the game to a different game entirely, Kevin Duran is a good signing for Benfica, I was very sad when he left Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia because he is absolutely a good player at a very young age, it’s good he is playing for Benfica now, who knows he might just get his career back on track.

I don’t see how Hearts would come back from this outrageous loss, well they say anything can happen in Football so I’m not expecting anything special to happen in the second leg of the Europa League Qualifiers, I’m also surprised no team is interested in Pavlidis, he is 27 years of age and there are teams that should be interested in signing him most especially English Teams, Andreas Schjelderup is another player that caught my attention right from the World Cup and also watching him play in this Benfica team, he is a phenomenal player.

Yes, it's a shame that such a good and quality team won't be playing in the Champions League this season, we all remember the great match between Benfica and Real last season in the Champions League.
I've already mentioned that Hearts is a very bad team, that they suffered a disaster against Sturm in the previous round and I didn't expect Benfica to have any major problems with them.
Maybe it's not a bad thing that Benfica isn't playing in the Champions League this season, but in a weaker club competition, the European League.
This might be their chance to finally win a European trophy.

[asriloni]

Well, it seems that my crystal ball is not in sync with yours and it needs Syncthing to be installed.

Seeing Bournemouth and Sunderland in the list of top contenders is something I would never have expected. A miracle would need to happen for this to occur. Regarding Palace, yes, they may be there, as they showed good playing in Premier League last season.

The EPL clubs are the only potential teams to win europa league. I know we have benfica, but feel weird how their performance has changed a lot. We have also some top serie a teams such as Juve and Milan, but these teams have always been shite when it comes to the europa league.

So i'd prefer to put EPL teams as my favorite here.

Yes, it's a shame that such a good and quality team won't be playing in the Champions League this season, we all remember the great match between Benfica and Real last season in the Champions League.
I've already mentioned that Hearts is a very bad team, that they suffered a disaster against Sturm in the previous round and I didn't expect Benfica to have any major problems with them.
Maybe it's not a bad thing that Benfica isn't playing in the Champions League this season, but in a weaker club competition, the European League.
This might be their chance to finally win a European trophy.

I really miss the drama between Prestianni vs vini, but it's passed and disappointed how they're downgrading to the europa league. However, they are the same team who played last season, but they have not proven themselves when they fought EPL teams. They often lost to the EPL teams, and the last time they got thrashed so hard by Liverpool.

So we have to see how strong they are to fight EPL teams before we can put them as contender for the trophy.I believe once the outright odds will be released, they will be slightly below EPL teams.

[Cryptmuster]

Benfica totally destroyed Hearts in yesterday match and this is just first leg. Imagine what the aggregate scoreline will be if they play in the second leg. There's nothing Hearts can do anymore, I feel the strategy will be to defend in order not to concede more goals. I even thought that Heart will go far in this Europe after their amazing performance last season. But Benfica is bigger and better team, with alot quality players, this game just looked like they are facing a division team in their league. I wish a big teams can come for Vangelis Pavlidis, Bro is on a goal spree in this qualifiers.

Benfica is a team that definitely deserves to play in the Champions League, and Europa League it's a bit too low for them, especially considering they're qualifying for the Europa League. I don't think anything major will happen in the return leg, because if you look at how Benfica played the return leg away against St. Gallen, they lost 2-1, but they won 5-0 at home. I think the same could happen to Hearts, they could even play with their second line-up, because the new Portuguese league season is already starting.

[Ruttoshi]

I wouldn't call it surprise. It's enough to see results of Svottish clubs in Europe in recent years. Bet against Scottish clubs in European games and you will be in profit. Though, I must say that I didn't expected that Hearts will be that bad like they're from amateur league. First getting trashed by Sturm and now by Benfica. It's not same team  that was fighting for Scottish league title and wasted it in last rounds.

Scotland doesn't have a good performance in football, they aren't anywhere near average. This is why I am not surprised towards Benefica humiliation on them. I think, this club performance is below standard in this competition.

I overlooked at their first defeat but this last one cannot be overlooked because it's very annoying. To me, it was a waste of time watching it.

[Varnquister]

Benfica managed to defeat Hearts with a strong performance. Having taken control of the match in the first half, Benfica finished the half with a 3-0 lead. They continued their pressure in the second half and closed out the match 6-1 with two goals in the final minutes. All six goals were scored by different players. Two of the six goals came from penalty kicks—one converted by Pavlidis and the other by Schjelderup. Hearts’ chances of advancing at home are now virtually nonexistent. With this score, Benfica has already secured its place in the next round.

[yixichloro2xx]

Benfica totally destroyed Hearts in yesterday match and this is just first leg. Imagine what the aggregate scoreline will be if they play in the second leg. There's nothing Hearts can do anymore, I feel the strategy will be to defend in order not to concede more goals. I even thought that Heart will go far in this Europe after their amazing performance last season. But Benfica is bigger and better team, with alot quality players, this game just looked like they are facing a division team in their league. I wish a big teams can come for Vangelis Pavlidis, Bro is on a goal spree in this qualifiers.

Benfica is a team that definitely deserves to play in the Champions League, and Europa League it's a bit too low for them, especially considering they're qualifying for the Europa League. I don't think anything major will happen in the return leg, because if you look at how Benfica played the return leg away against St. Gallen, they lost 2-1, but they won 5-0 at home. I think the same could happen to Hearts, they could even play with their second line-up, because the new Portuguese league season is already starting.

Looking at their last season performance still looks funny to me. It's because they were unbeaten, yet they didn't win the league or qualified to the UEFA champions league, out of 38 matches they won 23 games and drew 11. I have never seen a team who went unbeaten without winning the league, to me that record is useless.  You are right, Benfica coming to the second won't play 100% of their first eleven. I feel they will just rotate the squad. Even if they use their second Xi , there no chance that Heart will do any damages, or even dream of trying to make a comeback, which is unrealistic. Hearts themselves might have already given up , so they won't play the match with full efforts. Game might even end with 1-2 scoreline.