Benfica's demolition of Hearts fuels Europa League ambitions

Hoy, El Benfica delivered a crushing 6‑1 victory over Hearts at Da Luz, with Vangelis Pavlidis and Gianluca Prestianni each finding the net, sealing the Portuguese side’s dominance in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. The win puts Benfica on track to secure a place in the Europa League group stage.

El Benfica finished third in the previous Primeira Liga season with José Mourinho on the bench, yet will miss this campaign’s Champions League despite past strong performances. The club now battles for a spot in the Europa League Fase Liga, a goal highlighted in the latest update at 23:23 CEST.

The team is currently led by Marco Silva after Mourinho returned to the Real Madrid bench. Silva’s appointment was confirmed in the same report that noted the match took place at Da Luz.

Rafa Silva opened the scoring after just three minutes, followed by Tomás Araújo in the 23rd minute and Pavlidis from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute to make it 3‑0 at halftime. In the second half Gianluca Prestianni added the fourth, Tom Renaud reduced the deficit, and late goals from the recent signing Jhon Durán (87') and Andreas Schjelderup (94') completed the set.

In the previous round Benfica eliminated St Gallen with a 5‑0 comeback at Da Luz, demonstrating the side’s resilience in European competition.

The return leg is scheduled for Thursday, and a successful result will see Benfica face the loser of the Champions League qualifier between Aarhus and Sabah for a place in the Europa League group stage.

Hearts, who missed the Scottish Premier title after a 3‑1 loss to Celtic, were previously knocked out of the Champions League second qualifying round by Sturm Graz with a 6‑0 aggregate and have now entered the Europa League, though their campaign appears likely to be brief.

The match is recorded in the official list as Benfica (POR) 6 – Hearts (ESC) 1, alongside other fixtures such as PAOK (GRE) 0 – Anderlecht (BEL) 1. The report, tagged Hearts.EFEJordi ArchsRedactor | Fútbol internacional, was updated at 23:23 CEST.