The day's biggest upset occurred in Tampere, where Finland's Ilves secured a 4-3 victory against an AZ team that reached the semi-finals of the Conference League in the 2022/23 season.
The home team never fell behind in this match, scoring twice in six minutes during the second half to take a first-leg lead. This marked only the second time AZ has lost a UECL qualifier, having previously fallen 1-0 to Dundee United three years ago.
This was not the only notable upset of the day. Sparta Praha also found themselves on the losing end of a 2-1 scoreline in Kazakhstan against Aktobe. Oralkhan Omirtaev's 83rd-minute goal was crucial for the hosts, who took the lead just before the half-hour mark.
Both Norwegian clubs won convincingly. Rosenborg's Dino Islamovic scored a hat-trick in his team's 5-0 victory over Lithuania's Banga. Viking achieved the largest victory margin this week, defeating Koper by seven goals. Remarkably, this was not the first time they scored seven in a European match, as they last accomplished this 26 years ago against Principat in the UEFA Cup.
Austria Wien had to exert effort in their match against second-tier Spaeri from Georgia. Ultimately, they won 2-0, with their second goal coming in the dying moments via a penalty.
In other matches, FC Santa Coloma, who had never won an away match in Europe prior to this season, came back from a goal down to shock Polissia Zhytomyr 2-1. Equalizing just six minutes after conceding, David Crespo netted the winner just before half-time. The Andorran team is now 90 minutes away from reaching the third qualifying round for the second time in three years.
Kosice, who took over from DAC Dunajska Streda at the last minute, squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Neman Grodno. Maxim Kravstov's penalty 11 minutes from the end helped his team complete the comeback.
While most games took place on Thursday, several were played on Wednesday, along with one match on Tuesday. Ballkani saw braces from Sunday Adetunji and Bleart Tolaj as they came back from behind twice to win 4-2 against Floriana. The Kosovan team has reached the Conference League proper twice in the past.
Next week, the deciders will take place on Tuesday and Thursday, as 50 teams will see their European campaigns come to an end. Joining the 50 winners in the third qualifying round are the eight losing teams from the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, as well as Vikingur Gota and Virtus, both of whom received byes to that stage.
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