Legia celebrate against HibsSNS

Legia Warsaw denied Hibernian a famous European win in gut-wrenching fashion

At a glance

  • Legia score after 13 minutes and give Hibs mountain to climb in Warsaw

  • But Scottish side stun intense home crowd by staging incredible three-goal comeback

  • Polish hosts score stoppage-time equaliser and extra-time winner, then have man sent off, to deny Hibs famous win

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

Hibernian's Conference League dream was crushed in heartbreaking fashion as Legia Warsaw denied the Scottish side one of their great European results in an incredible six-goal play-off thriller.

After the Edinburgh side, trailing 2-1 from the first leg, silenced a hostile home crowd in the Polish capital with a remarkable three-goal fightback to lead 3-1 on the night, Juergen Elitim's 93rd-minute aggregate leveller took a breathtaking encounter to extra time.

The Leith side tired and suffered complete heartache when Mileta Rajovic smashed past goalkeeper Jordan Smith eight minutes after the restart.

"That's as good a performance I've seen in Europe from a Hibs team in my lifetime," head coach David Gray told BBC Scotland.

"I'm immensely proud of that, but it's also hard to take because of that. We need to make sure we come back stronger."

Needing to recover a first-leg defeat against a club who reached the quarter-finals of this competition last season, Gray challenged Hibs to create a "special night" in Warsaw.

Gray's men went on to almost scribe one of the club's finest European nights into their 150-year history by roaring back from a two-goal deficit after Vahan Bichakhchyan's drilled effort put Legia 3-1 up on aggregate.

Rocky Bushiri nodded in Nicky Cadden's corner to spark a sensational second-half performance, before the centre-back teed up Martin Boyle to lash in an equaliser in the tie.

Just two minutes later, substitute Miguel Chaiwa stunned the Polish hosts with a sublime solo goal.

Fellow substitute Junior Hoilett was unfairly sent off in a second period packed with drama, but the referee was quickly sent to the monitor to overturn his decision.

In a sliding doors moment, Hibs came within inches of extending their advantage when Boyle's outrageous 40-yard volley looped on to the crossbar.

Despite Legia defender Jan Ziolkowski seeing red for a second yellow card in the 115th minute, Gray's side were unable to take the contest to penalties.

Crestfallen Hibs can hold heads high - analysis

This has been a damaging week for Scotland's Uefa coefficient ranking, but Hibs should in no way be held responsible for any of that.

Legia were playing in the last eight of the Conference League four months ago. They were put out by eventual winners Chelsea.

They lost 4-2 on aggregate to the Premier League side but won the second leg 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of the incredible effort Gray's men had to put into this game, especially after going two goals down on aggregate.

Had Boyle's ridiculous volley dropped a couple of inches lower, or had Kieron Bowie or Josh Mulligan beaten the keeper in normal time, Hibs would have been out of sight before Legia found their late equaliser.

Bowie was also denied a leveller with seconds remaining in extra time when his header was clawed off the line. Record signing Thibault Klidje also watched a lofted finish loop agonisingly off target.

The Leith side can count themselves unlucky with their European draws, but they have still gone to Midtjylland, Partizan Belgrade and Legia and avoided defeat in each game.

That will be no consolation for Gray and his players in the immediate aftermath of this one, but if they can put the pain behind them and recover quickly, they are going to be serious proposition in the Scottish Premiership once again this season.

What they said

Hibernian head coach David Gray: "Obviously I'm very deflated, I'm devastated for the players. I'm really, really proud of that level of performance. The bravery of every player, everyone who came on the pitch, I'm really proud.

"We need to remember this feeling. It's a really sore feeling and I've also just reminded the players of how far this group have come.

"Eight or nine months ago, bottom of the league after 13 or 14 games, to being where we are right now, minutes away from [the Conference League]. A lot to be proud about, even though we never accept losing games of football."

What is next for Hibs?

Hibs return to Premiership action on Sunday (15:00 BST) when they welcome St Mirren to Easter Road.

Where next?

Player of the match

M. Chaiwa
8.10
1 K. Tobiasz
5.89
29 M. Rajović
5.85
67 B. Kapustka
5.77
19 Rúben Vinagre
5.74
3 S. Kapuadi
5.73
22 J. Elitim
5.73
30 P. Stojanović
5.73
21 V. Bichakhchyan
5.72
8 R. Augustyniak
5.71
7 P. Wszołek
5.63
18 J. Nsame
5.61
44 D. Szymański
5.50
53 W. Urbański
5.50
24 J. Ziółkowski
5.45
9 M. Alfarela
5.40
55 A. Jędrzejczyk
5.32
17 I. Shkurin
5.17
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