CSKA Sofia surrendered their advantage from a week ago when Maccabi Tel Aviv came to Sofia and took the tie. The hosts had beaten their Israeli opponents 3-0 in the first leg on 6 August, but the Europa League third qualifying round returned a different verdict at the National Stadium Vasil Levski. Maccabi won 3-1 on Wednesday evening.
The opening goal came early, with CSKA taking the lead in the seventh minute. Maccabi responded quickly through D. Peretz, who equalised in the twelfth. A yellow card for B. Jordao in the 26th minute and another for Peretz thirty-one minutes in showed the tension building. Both sides traded chances without finding a breakthrough before the break.
The second half belonged to the visitors. E. Sokler restored Maccabi's advantage in the sixty-first minute, and S. Sensi added a third in the sixty-sixth. F. Lapoukhov then scored an own goal in the sixty-ninth, and the hosts had no answer. Substitutions followed on both sides, but the result was never in doubt.
The statistics told the story of dominance. Maccabi held 65 per cent possession and registered 109 attacks compared to CSKA's 71. The hosts managed only three shots on target from seven attempts, while the visitors hit five from nine. Shots accuracy stood at 27 per cent for CSKA against 33 per cent for Maccabi.
What had been a comfortable position for the Bulgarians had evaporated. The previous meeting ended 3-0 in their favour, but this time the visitors controlled the tempo and the outcome. CSKA now face elimination from the competition, while Maccabi move closer to the group stage.