Key events

GOAL! Benfica 3-1 Celtic (Camilo Duran, 63 mins)

Celtic are on the scoresheet at the Estadio da Luz! And it’s the third goal of the evening to be scored by someone called Duran. This does not count as a hat-trick.

9.19pm: Juventus have equalised at Celta Vigo thanks to some truly puzzling decision-making from Marcos Alonso. The ball is swung in from the left, and it dips quite nastily just as it reaches him, but he decides that rather than head it away from danger he’ll just chest it straight to Woltemade, who simply sweeps it in.

GOAL! Brighton 3-0 Kauno Zalgiris (Rutter, 53 mins)

A nice pass releases Osman into the left side of the area, and he picks out a pull-back that leaves Rutter with something very close to a tap-in, with the Kauno goalkeeper Svedkauskas completely out of position!

9.14pm: Ararat have conceded a frankly pathetic goal. Goalkeeper passes to defender, who passes to another defender, who miscontrols calamitously, and Ousmane Sow is left with an easy task from the edge of the area.

9.09pm: Celtic may not have scored but a former Celtic player has: Mohamed Elyounoussi has given Copenhagen a 1-0 lead over Braga in the Conference League.

9.03pm: Play is restarting or, in a few lucky places, has already restarted. Strap yourselves in, it’s going to get hectic.

Half-time reading: here’s a report on one they played earlier:

And a bit of an early-game round-up:

Half-time scores

Your half-timely scores in full on what has so far been a particularly good night for the alphabetically earliest home teams in each European competitoin:

Europa League

Benfica 3-0 Celtic
Bournemouth 1-0 Sturm Graz
Celta Vigo 1-0 Juventus
Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Anderlecht
Ferencvaros 0-0 Plzen
Hoffenheim 0-0 Besiktas
Jagiellonia Bialystock 2-1 Ararat Armenia
Marseille 0-1 Olympiacos
NEC 0-1 Levski Sofia
Rennes 0-1 OFI

Conference League

Atalanta 3-0 AE Pafos
Brann 0-0 Lincoln Red Imps
Brighton 1-0 Kauno Zalgiris
Copenhagen 0-0 Braga
Freiburg 1-1 Jablonec
Hearts 1-0 Nordsjaelland
Sint-Truiden 1-0 Iberia 1999
Twente 0-0 Thun

Sky Bet League One

Mansfield 0-1 Oxford Utd

GOAL! Brighton 2-0 Kauno Zalgiris (Hinshelwood, 45+2 mins)

Goalless after 40 minutes, Brighton go in at half-time two up after Jack Hinshelwood’s goal survives a VAR check to see if the ball went out of play in the build-up. They’ve had 10 shots so far, three on target; Kauno are yet to have an on-target shot of any kind.

8.48pm: It is approximately half-timeish across Europe, half-time scores incoming.

GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Kauno Zalgiris (Rutter, 41 mins)

Can’t lie, I’ve no idea what happened here. Look, you try watching 38 games at once.

Brighton and Hove Albion's Georginio Rutter scores their first goal. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Then celebrates. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters

GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Sturm Graz (Evanilson, 43 mins)

What a header that is! The ball is crossed in from the right and met by Evanilson, on the near side of the near post, who somehow power-flicks it high, looping over the keeper and in at the far post!

Evanilson sends a header goalwards … Photograph: Kieran McManus/Shutterstock

Which beats Sturm Graz's keeper Daniil Khudyakov and Bournemouth have the lead. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Reuters

Evanilson (centre) celebrates. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

8.43pm: “If Benfica’s Duran Duran tribute act keeps churning out the hits you can Save a Prayer for Celtic’s chances,” essays Peter Oh, whose earlier effort about Reflex saves was perhaps better but got lost in a barrage of goals, so is rewarded for persistence. Talking of which …

8.40pm: Sinisalo is in the right place this time, though, to stop Prestianni’s shot.

GOAL! Benfica 3-0 Celtic (Duran, 36 mins)

Celtic give the ball away on halfway, two quick passes send Duran running into the area, and he pushes the ball quite wide before benefiting from Viljami Sinisalo’s puzzling positioning and useless star-jump to turn the ball in with a low shot! This is looking pretty grim for Martin O’Neill’s side.

GOAL! Hearts 1-0 Nordsjaelland (McEntee, 33 mins)

Hearts take the lead! A corner is swung into the area, hilariously miskicked by Mendy, headed goalwards, and then turned in from close range by Oisin McEntee!

Oisin McEntee (centre) pokes the ball home to give Hearts the lead. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

6.34pm: Bournemouth hit the post now, and it feels like a goal is very much coming in that one.

8.32pm: “Evening Simon,” writes Simon McMahon. “Celtic are always capable of scoring, but I worry about them defensively. Well, I say worry, but I love it really, as do most fans of other Scottish clubs, who for years have seen the self styled ‘Bhoys’ buy their best players for a pittance, win everything domestically, and then blame ‘lack of competition’ for their European failure. The fact that they are still harking back to 1967, undoubtedly a significant achievement at the time, but also nearly 60 years ago, only confirms how far they have fallen.” You can’t really blame Celtic for the fact they find it a bit hard to win major European trophies these days, though, the whole world of football has shifted against them.

8.30pm: Bournemouth have the ball in the net after a bit of a post-corner scramble, but the referee harshly disallows it for some kind of push or other (actually, on reviewing, probably a handball).

8.28pm: Celtic bother the woodwork! Hogh hits one post and, from the rebound, Duran hits the other one!

GOAL! Benfica 2-0 Celtic (Bah, 23 mins)

Nice work down the left from Benfica, who play the ball around long enough for the entire Celtic defence to fall entirely asleep, whereupon the chip it into the box and onto the right foot of Alexander Bah, whose run has gone unnoticed by the snoozing Celtic backline, and he volleys it in!

Benfica’s Alexander Bah scores their second goal. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters

Bah celebrates. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters

8.21pm: And it’s Celta Vigo 1-0 Juventus, Hugo Alvarez eventually poking in after the ball was played from the right-hand side of the penalty area to the left.

8.20pm: And now they’re flying in! Atalanta double their lead through a penalty, Freiburg go a goal up against Jablonec through Vincenzo Grifo’s excellent free-kick, and Sint-Truiden actually do go 1-0 up against Iberia, their previous opening goal having been ruled out for offside.

8.18pm: Jagiellonia equalise! Kamil Jozwiak reaches the loose ball first to turn in the rebound after his shot is saved.

8.15pm: More goals to report, as Sint-Truiden go 1-0 up against Iberia 1999 while Ararat take the lead at Jagiellonia Bialistyock, who are undone by a goal down the middle and Zidane Banjaqui pokes it through the advancing goalkeeper’s legs just before the two of them collide.

8.12pm: OFI take the lead against Rennes, who play themselves into trouble as they’re pressed hard. OFI nick the ball, cross it into the box and Taxiarchis Fountas is entirely unmarked as he heads it back across the keeper and in.

8.10pm: Duran heads wide as Benfica go in search of a second.

GOAL! Benfica 1-0 Celtic (Duran, 5 mins)

And Duran makes no mistake from the spot, lifting a cheeky Panenka over Sinisalo! Pretty harsh that penalty call, I fear.

Cheeky. Photograph: Miguel A Lopes/EPA

Duran celebrates giving the home side a very early lead. Photograph: Armando França/AP

Penalty to Benfica!

8.04pm: A ghastly start for Celtic, who have conceded a penalty with not even four minutes on the clock after Jhon Duran hits the deckbbc. And meanwhile Atalanta have taken the lead against Pafos in the Conference League, Eljif Elmas capping a nice move by sweeping the ball home from the edge of the area.

8.01pm: Peeeeep! They’re off!

The players are on their way out! Kick-off is approximately four minutes, several handshakes, an anthem and various preambulatory activities away.

Pre-match reading: Here’s Jeff Rueter on Feyenoord’s Gjivai Zechiël, who is apparently quite good.

Nailing the pronunciation of Gjivai Zechiël may be a challenge for some, but it’ll be worth the effort. The Dutch G is a guttural one, not struck with a tongue so much as residing under one’s uvula like a congested H: kHEE-vye. The surname is a bit more straightforward: ZEH-kee-el, a natural decrescendo of emphasis with every syllable.

Used in a sentence: Gjivai Zechiël is one of the hottest midfielders in Europe, enjoying arguably the most rapid emergence of any high-level player in 2026.

Much more here:

Martin O’Neill has a chat:

The manager [Marco Silva] came here because he wanted to win things, and you’ve got a good chance when you’re at Benfica. We have to earn the right to play, do lots of things off the ball, but most importantly when you’re on it, have the confidence. We’ll have the opportunity to play, and that’s exactly what you want: confidence in yourself, and confidence in your teammates.

More team news, this time from Bournemouth. If the name of the referee rings a bell, it may be because he was the VAR who angered the whole of Egypt at this summer’s World Cup and prompted Marca to run through his “long history of controversies” (actually not long):

Bournemouth: Petrovic, Smith, Silva, Diakite, Soler, Tavernier, Cook, Adams, Doak, Rodriguez, Evanilson. Subs: Di Gregorio, Allan, Truffert, Hill, Brooks, Christie, Kluivert, Adli, Toth, Rayan.
Sturm Graz: Khudyakov, Malic, Quarshie, Petrovic, Balbo, Heil, Stankovic, Matoshi, Hodl, Seidl, Beganovic. Subs: Helac, Lorenz, Vallci, Kayombo, Diakite, Mate Grgic, Koller, Peinhart, Weinhandl, Halwachs, Petritsch.
Referee: Jerome Brisard (France).

Teams!

Team news is starting to land and I’m going to pour it all in here, starting with Benfica v Celtic and news that not only is Camilo Durán but Jhon Durán starts for Benfica, making this very much a Durán v Durán affair, and if that isn’t an excuse for enjoying some fine 80s music I don’t know what is.

Benfica: Trubin, Bah, Araujo, Lenglet, Dahl, Aursnes, Joao Palhinha, Lukebakio, Sudakov, Prestianni, Duran. Subs: Soares, Circati, Pavlidis, Manu, Barreiro, Schjelderup, Rafa Silva, Echeverri, Indio, El Karouani, Anisio Cabral, Freitas.
Celtic: Sinisalo, Donovan, Murray, Trusty, Tierney, McGregor, Baur, Duran, Sorensen, Tounekti, Hogh. Subs: Johnstone, Lotomba, Scales, Nygren, McCowan, Osmand, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hassan, Forrest, Ralston, Clearie, Kennedy.
Referee: Nikola Dabanovic (Montenegro).

Preamble

Hello world! We have 10 late Europa League games to get our teeth into tonight, plus eight in the Conference League and a token effort from Mansfield and Oxford in League One, any of which we might get distracted by if they look exciting enough. Bournemouth’s Marco Rose is hoping his team recover from the “real slap” they suffered at the hands of Chelsea at the weekend against Sturm Graz, while Celtic’s fans wait to find out if Camilo Duran’s child has been born in time for the Colombian to make it to Lisbon to play Benfica. Elsewhere, two classic names of European club football face each other as Anderlecht, former Uefa Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup winners, head to Dinamo Zagreb, former Fairs Cup winners and Cup Winners’ Cup semi-finalists, for what surprisingly is only a fifth meeting, while Celta Vigo and Juventus play for the third time, with both previous encounters having ended in home wins.

Tonight’s fixtures in full, then (all 8pm unless they obviously aren’t):

Europa League

Benfica v Celtic
Bournemouth v Sturm Graz
Celta Vigo v Juventus
Dinamo Zagreb v Anderlecht
Ferencvaros v Plzen
Hoffenheim v Besiktas
Jagiellonia Bialystock v Ararat Armenia
Marseille v Olympiacos
NEC v Levski Sofia
Rennes v OFI

And the earlier 5.45pm BST kick-offs:

AZ v Hapoel Beer Sheva
CM Celje v Omonia Nicosia
Lech Poznan v Bayer Leverkusen
Lyon v Crystal Palace
Red Bull Salzburg v Milan
Sparta Prague v Lillestrom
Torreense v Sunderland
Union Saint Gilloise v Real Sociedad

Conference League

Atalanta v AE Pafos
Brann v Lincoln Red Imps
Brighton v Kauno Zalgiris
Copenhagen v Braga
Freiburg v Jablonec
Hearts v Nordsjaelland
Sint-Truiden v Iberia 1999
Twente v Thun

And the earlier, 5.45pm kick-offs:

CSKA Sofia v Monaco
Egnatia v Midtjylland
Gent v AGF
Hajduk Split v Ajax
KuPS v Trabzonspor
Lugano v Red Star Belgrade
Mjallby AIF v Inter D’Escalde
Panathinaikos v Borac
Riga v Kairat
Universitatea Craiova v Getafe

Sky Bet League One

Mansfield v Oxford Utd