Benfica
In the first leg of the Europa League third qualifying round, Benfica host Hearts at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon 6 August 2026 at 20:00 BST.
The Scots travel to Lisbon after two straight blows to their pride: a 0:6 defeat to Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying and a losing start to the league campaign. Benfica, meanwhile, go into the game in a completely different mood, with one European round already behind them.
Benfica are a completely different side at home. After an away setback in St Gallen (1:2), the Lisbon side returned to the Estádio da Luz and thrashed the Swiss side (5:0), with Vangelis Pavlidis scoring four times in 70 minutes.
The club rebooted in the summer. Jose Mourinho left for Real Madrid, Marco Silva took charge and immediately turned the team towards attack. Georgiy Sudakov cost €20.25 million and Enzo Barrenechea €12 million. The Portuguese league does not start until 7 August, so Benfica have built up all their match sharpness in European competition — and have done so successfully.
Hearts arrive in disarray. Manager Derek McInnes left for Rangers and took Lawrence Shankland, last season's top scorer, with him. Belgian Wouter Vrancken is working without two captains, Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley, while Malachi Fagan-Walcott has been ruled out of the European squad with an ankle injury. The team failed to score at all against the Austrians, and the level of opposition in Lisbon will be far higher.
But the hosts are not built for clean sheets either. Their defence has been completely overhauled: Nicolas Otamendi left for River Plate, while Antonio Silva was sold to Bournemouth for £21.4 million. This back line has already conceded two goals to modest St Gallen.
The Scottish side can bite back, though. In Aberdeen, they took the lead through Oisin McEntee and were ahead until the 90th minute, when they were reduced to ten men. Set pieces and long balls are the only things that work reliably for them, and that will be enough for a goal against Benfica's stretched defence.
The hosts will win comfortably. But Trubin will not keep a clean sheet again.
Marian Barbu (Romania)
Matches – 5 (international fixtures, 2025–2026);
Average fouls per match – 26;
Average yellow cards per match (including second yellows) – 3.4;
Matches with red cards – 0 out of 5;
Matches with penalties – 3 out of 5.
|
Marco Silva
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
Line-up
|
|||
|
Samuel Jumpe Soares
|
gk. | 1 | -1 |
|
Alexander Hartmann Bah
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
|
Clément Nicolas Laurent Lenglet
|
df. | 3 | 1 |
|
Samuel Elias Dahl
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
|
Tomás Lemos Araújo
|
df. | 1 | 1 |
|
Enzo Alan Tomás Barrenechea
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
|
Heorhii Sudakov
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
|
Rafael Alexandre Fernandes Ferreira da Silva
|
mf. | 3 | 2 |
|
Leandro Barreiro Martins
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Evangelos Pavlidis
|
fw. | 3 | 5 |
|
Gianluca Prestianni Gross
|
fw. | 1 | 1 |
|
Substitutes
|
|||
|
Anatoliy Trubin
|
gk. | 2 | -2 |
|
Gabriel dos Santos Queiroz
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Amar Dedić
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
|
José Pedro Formoso Neto
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Jakub Piotr Kamiński
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
|
Manuel Jorge Silva
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Richard Ríos Montoya
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Miguel Lebre Monteiro Figueiredo
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
|
Andreas Rædergård Schjelderup
|
fw. | 2 | 1 |
|
Jhon Jader Durán Palacios
|
fw. | 2 | 1 |
|
Dodi Lukébakio Ngandoli
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Anísio Cláudio Fernandes Reis Cabral
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Wouter Vrancken
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
Line-up
|
|||
|
Beau Reus
|
gk. | 1 | -4 |
|
Harry Milne
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
|
Laurent Mendy
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
|
Oisin Michael McEntee
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
|
Stuart John Findlay
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
|
Blair Thomas Spittal
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
|
Jordi Altena
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
|
Alexandros Kyziridis
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Calvin Darren Miller
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Cláudio Rafael Soares Braga
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Pierre Landry Kaboré
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Substitutes
|
|||
|
Alexander Clark
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Ryan William Fulton
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Jamie Daniel McCart
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
|
Matthew Gillies
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Michael-John Kamson-Kamara
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Joshua McPake
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
|
Thomas Renaud
|
mf. | 1 | 1 |
|
Tómas Bent Magnússon
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Sabah Kerjota
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Severin Sabri Guendouz
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
|
Amadou Ba-Sy
|
fw. | 2 | 0 |
|
James Thomas Wilson
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
Benfica
St. Gallen
St. Gallen
Benfica
Hearts
Sturm Graz
Sturm Graz
Hearts
| # | Team | Form | Matches played | W | D | L | G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Juventus
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5:0 | 3 |
|
2
|
Crystal Palace
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:0 | 3 |
|
3
|
Sparta Prague
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:1 | 3 |
|
4
|
Beşiktaş JK
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:1 | 3 |
|
5
|
Saint-Gilloise
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:0 | 3 |
|
6
|
Ferencvárosi
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 3 |
|
7
|
Benfica
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 |
|
8
|
Bayer 04
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 |
|
9
|
OFI Crete
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 |
|
10
|
Bournemouth
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
11
|
Lyon
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
12
|
União Torreense
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
13
|
Olympiacos Piraeus
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
14
|
Red Bull Salzburg
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 |
|
15
|
Omonia
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 |
|
16
|
Sunderland
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 |
|
17
|
Dinamo Zagreb
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
18
|
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
19
|
Rennes
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
20
|
Sturm Graz
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
21
|
Jagiellonia
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
22
|
Anderlecht
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
23
|
Lillestrom
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
24
|
Real Sociedad
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
25
|
AZ Alkmaar
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:1 | 0 |
|
26
|
Celta
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:1 | 0 |
|
27
|
Levski Sofia
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:1 | 0 |
|
28
|
Celtic
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:3 | 0 |
|
29
|
NK Celje
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:2 | 0 |
|
30
|
Hoffenheim
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:2 | 0 |
|
31
|
AC Milan
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:2 | 0 |
|
32
|
Marseille
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:4 | 0 |
|
33
|
Ararat-Armenia
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:4 | 0 |
|
34
|
Viktoria Plzen
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:3 | 0 |
|
35
|
Lech
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:4 | 0 |
|
36
|
NEC Nijmegen
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:5 | 0 |
| # | Team | Form | Matches played | W | D | L | G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Juventus
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5:0 | 3 |
|
2
|
Crystal Palace
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:0 | 3 |
|
3
|
Beşiktaş JK
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:1 | 3 |
|
4
|
Bayer 04
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 |
|
5
|
OFI Crete
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 |
|
6
|
Olympiacos Piraeus
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
7
|
Omonia
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 |
|
8
|
Sunderland
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 |
|
9
|
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
10
|
Sturm Graz
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
11
|
Sparta Prague
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
12
|
Saint-Gilloise
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
13
|
Ferencvárosi
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
14
|
Benfica
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
15
|
Bournemouth
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
16
|
Lyon
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
17
|
União Torreense
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
18
|
Red Bull Salzburg
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
19
|
Dinamo Zagreb
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
20
|
Rennes
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
21
|
Jagiellonia
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
22
|
Anderlecht
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
23
|
Lillestrom
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
24
|
Real Sociedad
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
25
|
AZ Alkmaar
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
26
|
Celta
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
27
|
Levski Sofia
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:1 | 0 |
|
28
|
Celtic
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:3 | 0 |
|
29
|
NK Celje
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
30
|
Hoffenheim
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
31
|
AC Milan
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:2 | 0 |
|
32
|
Marseille
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
33
|
Ararat-Armenia
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:4 | 0 |
|
34
|
Viktoria Plzen
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:3 | 0 |
|
35
|
Lech
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
36
|
NEC Nijmegen
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
| # | Team | Form | Matches played | W | D | L | G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Sparta Prague
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:1 | 3 |
|
2
|
Saint-Gilloise
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:0 | 3 |
|
3
|
Ferencvárosi
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 3 |
|
4
|
Benfica
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 |
|
5
|
Bournemouth
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
6
|
Lyon
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
7
|
União Torreense
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 |
|
8
|
Red Bull Salzburg
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 |
|
9
|
Dinamo Zagreb
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
10
|
Rennes
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 |
|
11
|
Juventus
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
12
|
Crystal Palace
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
13
|
Beşiktaş JK
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
14
|
Bayer 04
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
15
|
OFI Crete
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
16
|
Olympiacos Piraeus
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
17
|
Omonia
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
18
|
Sunderland
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
19
|
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
20
|
Sturm Graz
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
21
|
Jagiellonia
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:2 | 0 |
|
22
|
Anderlecht
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
23
|
Lillestrom
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
24
|
Real Sociedad
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
25
|
AZ Alkmaar
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:1 | 0 |
|
26
|
Celta
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:1 | 0 |
|
27
|
Levski Sofia
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
28
|
Celtic
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
29
|
NK Celje
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:2 | 0 |
|
30
|
Hoffenheim
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:2 | 0 |
|
31
|
AC Milan
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
32
|
Marseille
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:4 | 0 |
|
33
|
Ararat-Armenia
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
34
|
Viktoria Plzen
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 |
|
35
|
Lech
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:4 | 0 |
|
36
|
NEC Nijmegen
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:5 | 0 |
