Europa League Rangers falter while Benfica thrash Hearts

Europa League Rangers saw a dream start turned into a 2-1 defeat against Jagiellonia Bialystok in Poland, while Benfica delivered a 6-1 demolition of Hearts in Lisbon, leaving both Scottish clubs facing uphill battles in the competition under new manager Wouter Vrancken.

Derek McInnes' first European tie as Gers boss began positively when home defender Guilherme Montoia diverted a Tuur Rommens cross into his own net after just four minutes, gifting Jagiellonia an early lead. Rangers later paid the price for sloppy defending as they could not recover the advantage.

Kajetan Szmyt levelled in the 13th minute with a preventable strike that rattled the Light Blues, then doubled his tally eight minutes later after further defensive slackness from the visitors. McInnes responded by introducing Cammy Devlin, Nico Raskin and Findlay Curtis for the second half, though Curtis only managed to crash a shot off the post in added time.

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Hearts endured a bruising evening in Lisbon as new boss Wouter Vrancken watched his side fall 6-1 to Marco Silva's Benfica, who opened the scoring in the third minute, led 3-0 at the break and added another three after the interval to seal the tie. The Portuguese giants now advance to face the losers of the Champions League tie between Aarhus and Sabah Baku, while Hearts appear set for a Conference League play‑off against Rapid Vienna.

Hibernian secured a valuable 2-1 win in North Macedonia against Shkendija, with former League of Ireland forward Owen Elding scoring in the 73rd minute, Marko Gjorgjievski equalising three minutes later, and Warren O'Hora netting a 90th‑minute winner from a Jordan Obita corner.