Scotland's Coefficient Weekly Preview
Your weekly European Stats Pack ahead of the QR3 Second Legs
Four Scottish clubs are in European action on Thursday, with kick-offs spread between 7pm and 7.45pm. Hopefully, by the end of the night, all four will still be involved and Scotland will have five clubs in Europe at the play-off stage for only the second time.
The first was in 2023/24, when Celtic went directly into the Champions League group stage and Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Rangers all contested play-off ties. This time, if all make it through, then Scottish football would have five sides playing in the UEFA play-off round for the first time ever.
Celtic don’t enter Europe until the Champions League play-off round, while Hearts and Rangers are guaranteed either a Europa League or Conference League play-off place. Hibs and Motherwell have no such safety net; defeat for either would bring their European campaign to an end.
This European Stats Pack is a new feature exclusively for subscribers this season, following the positive feedback received for the SPFL pre- and post-match Stats Packs. Please let me know what you’d like to see more or less of in these kind of graphics.
Shkëndija Vs Hibernian (19:00)
Hibs take a 2-1 lead to Skopje after Warren O’Hora’s 90th-minute goal settled a tight first leg at Easter Road. Owen Elding had opened the scoring before Marko Gjorgjievski equalised two minutes later, leaving Hibs with a slender advantage to protect in the National Arena Todor Proeski.
O’Hora’s winner was followed three days later by Callum Wright’s 90+3 goal at Ibrox. Those were the 28th and 29th matches Hibs have won with a goal in the 90th minute or later since 1990, but only the second time they have managed it in consecutive games.
In January 2010, Danny Galbraith scored a 92nd minute winner at Celtic Park before a 93rd minute own-goal by future Hibs manager Jack Ross at home to St Mirren three days later sealed Hibs’ only other pair of back-to-back 90+ minute winners since 1990.
That 2-1 victory over Rangers was Hibs’ third consecutive away league win, their longest run since four in a row ended in September 2020. Shkëndija also enjoyed a winning domestic weekend, 2-0 away to reigning champions Vardar. They have opened the North Macedonian league season with two wins and two clean sheets, scoring five without reply.
Hibs have lost only one of their last four European away matches, although that was the 2-0 defeat at Malisheva last month which nearly ended this campaign before it had really begun. Shkëndija have won seven of their last 10 European home games and conceded only six goals across that run. Scottish teams have still never won away to a North Macedonian club, drawing three and losing one of the four previous matches, stretching back to Yugoslavia times.
History is largely on Hibs’ side from this position, though. They have progressed after four of their five previous one-goal home first-leg wins, with the only failure coming against Liverpool in 1975. Hibs defeated one of the best sides in Europe 1-0 in the UEFA Cup at Easter Road after Joe Harper scored the game’s only goal, but then lost the return leg 3-1 at Anfield, thanks to a John Toshack hat-trick. Liverpool would go on to win the tournament that season, and many others in the subsequent years…
The winners will face Gent or IFK Göteborg in the Conference League play-off. Gent take a 1-0 lead into Thursday’s second leg in Belgium.
The Hibs match kicks off at 7pm and is available exclusively through SolidSport, priced at £12.
Motherwell Vs HJK (19:30)
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