Hearts faced a dismal evening in Lisbon, with their Europa League aspirations all but extinguished after a resounding 6-1 defeat at the hands of Benfica. Following a disheartening summer that saw them narrowly miss the William Hill Premiership title to Celtic, 1,300 Hearts fans traveled to the Portuguese capital, prepared for a challenging encounter under new head coach Wouter Vrancken. The match unfolded as expected, with Marco Silva's Benfica taking an early lead, extending it to three goals by halftime, and adding three more in the second half, thereby eliminating any uncertainty from the upcoming second leg at Tynecastle.
Meanwhile, Benfica is poised to face the losers of the Champions League tie between Aarhus and Sabah Baku in the Europa League play-off round. In contrast, Hearts are likely to compete in the Conference League play-off against Rapid Vienna, who currently lead Paide 4-1 after the first leg in Estonia. In other news, Hibernian secured a vital 2-1 victory over Shkendija, taking a significant lead into the second leg of their Conference League third qualifying round clash in North Macedonia. The match saw Hibs take the lead in the 73rd minute through Owen Elding, only to be leveled by Marko Gjorgjievski less than three minutes later.
However, Warren O'Hora scored a 90th-minute winner, bundling in a Jordan Obita corner, to put Hibs in a favorable position to advance to the competition's play-off round. Additionally, Motherwell's impressive start under Alfred Johansson continued with a 1-1 draw against HJK Helsinki in the first leg of their Conference League third qualifying round tie.
The Lanarkshire side took the lead through Tawanda Maswanhise's penalty but was soon equalized by Teemu Pukki, who scored within seconds of coming off the bench. Despite losing Alex Lowry and Regan Charles-Cook to injuries, Motherwell returns home with a good chance of setting up a play-off showdown with Europa League runners-up Freiburg later this month.