UEFA Europa League REVIEW 13 Aug 2026: Tabakovic Treble Edges Salzburg Past Pafos in Thriller

Pafos led Salzburg 2-0 inside 37 minutes and looked poised to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit, only for Haris Tabakovic to ruin the party with a hat-trick. Lele and Biel had the Cypriot side flying, but Tabakovic pulled one back on 54 minutes, converted a penalty to level the tie on the night at 2-2, then put Salzburg 2-3 up on 70 minutes. Murad Mammadov's 84th-minute equaliser made it 3-3 on the night, but with Salzburg's first-leg win banked the Austrians went through 4-3 on aggregate.

CSKA Sofia lost 1-3 at home to Maccabi Tel Aviv and still went through. Dor Peretz and Ester Sokler put the Israeli side 2-0 up in Sofia, Stefano Sensi pulled one back for the hosts, and an own goal from Fedor Lapoukhov completed Maccabi's win on the night. None of it mattered on aggregate: CSKA had won 3-0 away in the first leg and went through 4-3 overall.

Hearts at least salvaged pride against Benfica, drawing 1-1 after Tomas Magnusson's 77th-minute goal was cancelled out within a minute by Dodi Lukebakio. It came nowhere close to repairing the tie: Benfica had won the first leg 6-1 in Lisbon and progressed 7-2 on aggregate.

Egnatia overwhelmed Shamrock Rovers 5-1 at home to complete a 6-4 aggregate win, despite finishing the first half with ten men after Edison Ndreca's 45th-minute red card. Daniel Adjessa and Alessandro Albanese both scored twice, either side of a goal from Ildi Gruda, as Egnatia raced into a 4-0 half-time lead before Albanese added a fifth after the break. Graham Burke's consolation on 74 minutes came for Shamrock Rovers, who went out having led the first leg 3-1 at home before losing the second leg 5-1.

Anderlecht saw off PAOK 3-2 at home to complete a 4-2 aggregate win, with Leo Petrot, Lukas Ambros and Danylo Sikan among the scorers before Alexander Jeremejeff's 88th-minute penalty came too late for the Greek side. PAOK finished the match with nine men, Andrija Zivkovic and Jeremejeff both sent off in the final two minutes.

Rangers were held 1-1 by Jagiellonia at home, an early Lawrence Shankland penalty cancelled out by Nik Prelec in the second half, but it was the Polish side who progressed. Jagiellonia had won the first leg 2-1 in Bialystok and went through 3-2 on aggregate.

Universitatea Craiova came from behind to beat KuPS 2-1, V. R. Gasc's early strike for KuPS cancelled out by an Steven Nsimba penalty and settled by Carlos Mora's 62nd-minute winner. Craiova had drawn 1-1 away in the first leg and went through 3-2 on aggregate.

Vikingur Reykjavik produced a home comeback of their own, beating Thun 3-2 after trailing twice: Fabio Fehr and Brighton Labeau put Thun 2-1 up before Gylfi Sigurdsson and Stigur Thordarson levelled twice in the first half and Valdimar Ingimundarson won it after the break. It was not enough to save the tie, Thun having won the first leg 3-0 in Switzerland to go through 5-3 on aggregate.

Omonia beat Lincoln Red Imps 1-0 at home through Lois Diony's 21st-minute goal to complete a 2-1 aggregate win, after the sides had drawn 1-1 in Gibraltar in the first leg.

Besiktas beat Hradec Kralove 1-0 at home, Vaclav Cerny's first-half goal completing a 2-0 aggregate win after the same scoreline in the first leg in the Czech Republic.

Gornik Zabrze drew 1-1 with Ferencvaros at home, Kacper Urbanski's first-half penalty cancelled out by an 82nd-minute own goal from Michal Sacek, but Ferencvaros went through 2-1 on aggregate having won the first leg 1-0 in Budapest.