What just happened in Gibraltar i just cannot see. Didnt watch the match but for Hajduk Split to lose points here is insane against a team that is much weaker then them. Hajduk Split with a win here could have probobly sealed the playoffs for sure but they didnt. Crvena Zvezda also barely won in the end and even they dont know how they did it.
It's shocking result. I saw several Hajduk games this season and they didn't looked like a team which can drop points against club from Gibraltar. Maybe it's one of cases when bigger club don't lookat their opponent serious enough
Ajax huge win against Midtjylland is also something unexpected for me.
Swiss Lugano are not slowing down. Today they had their 3rd win, 3-0 over Kauno Zalgiris. This put them in the position of table leader. They are one of the 4 clubs that have 100% win ratio. Their previous opponents were not necessarily the easiest to play against: Crvena Zvezda at home and Getafe away.
But my personal favourite to win the trophy is Brighton. They lost some points to Jablonec in the previous round but bounced back with a 1-0 away win over Getafe.
Conference League is probably not a top priority for Brighton right now, as they are doing really well in the Premier League (currently 3rd) and probably want to keep the momentum going, but they will likely approach the tournament more seriously when they advance to the next stage.
What is even more impressive that Lugano is undefeated 25 games in a row in all competitions. But yeah, Brighton is huge favorite. Not even sure who can stop them. Maybe Atalanta? Not sure...
Hajduk's players are still young and inexperienced.
Following major, unexpected victories against Ajax and Thun, they found themselves in the role of favorites for the first time, and it is clear that this burden of expectation affected their performance.
There were too many errors and signs of nervousness in their play.
While it is true that Lugano has started this competition very well and currently leads the standings, history shows that this does not necessarily mean much; what will matter far more is how prepared and competitive the clubs are once they reach the knockout stage.
English clubs have dominated all European club competitions over the last few years, but there are other strong, high-quality teams in this competition as well—such as Ajax, Panathinaikos, Monaco etc.