Hearts experienced a tough night in Lisbon as their Europa League aspirations were all but extinguished by a convincing 6-1 loss to Benfica. Following a disheartening summer, which saw them narrowly miss out on the William Hill Premiership title to Celtic, over 1,300 determined Hearts fans traveled to the Portuguese capital, anticipating a challenging fixture under new head coach Wouter Vrancken. As expected, Marco Silva's Benfica took the lead in the third minute and extended it to three by halftime, before adding three more in the second half, rendering the second leg at Tynecastle virtually meaningless. Meanwhile, Hibernian secured a vital 2-1 win over Shkendija, with Warren O'Hora scoring a 90th-minute winner, giving them a significant advantage ahead of the second leg in North Macedonia.
In another Conference League tie, Motherwell earned a respectable 1-1 draw against HJK Helsinki, with Tawanda Maswanhise's penalty canceled out by Teemu Pukki's equalizer, leaving them optimistic about their chances in the return leg.