FC Twente has kept its perfect record in the Conference League alive, but only after being pushed to the brink. The Enschede side beat Pafos FC 3-1 on Thursday evening at De Grolsch Veste, its third win in as many league-phase matches — yet the scoreboard still read 0-1 against it well past the hour mark, thanks to a stunning long-range strike from Pafos striker Lele.
Lele, who had put the Cypriots ahead just before half-time and provoked the home crowd with his celebration, picked up a second yellow card shortly after the break for fouling Daouda Weidmann and was sent off. Only with a man extra did Twente take full control, scoring twice more through Younes Taha’s pass to Sondre Ørjasaeter (2-1) and Weidmann himself, set up by substitute Thomas van den Belt, ten minutes from time.
With the win, Twente stands third on the league-phase table and remains the only side with a flawless record after three matches. The evening nearly turned sour twice at 1-1: Drommel held onto a rebound after stopping Lele one-on-one, and shortly afterwards smothered a big Pafos header at his near post.
From 0-1 down to 3-1
Twente had been the better side all evening against a deeply defensive Pafos, with Wout Weghorst and Ørjasaeter creating the best openings, but LPool keeper Radoslaw Majecki repeatedly kept his side in it. In the opening phase Weghorst shot at Majecki from close range after a pass from Bart van Rooij, and shortly before the break Taha and Weghorst again ran into the keeper after crosses from Ørjaasaeter and Aske Adelgaard. Ørjasaeter also struck just wide early on. Ruud Nijstad headed the equaliser from a Weidmann free kick after about an hour. Goalkeeper Joël Drommel then denied Lele at the other end twice — including a huge one-on-one — before the Brazilian’s red card flipped the match.
Lele had in fact escaped dismissal already just before half-time: after provoking the crowd in Vak P with his celebration, Slovak referee Michal Ocenas showed only one yellow, even though his arrow-and-bow gesture towards the supporters could also have earned a second card. Twente had survived another scare minutes before the goal, when Lele appeared alone in front of Drommel’s goal.
Fourth win in a row, Ajax on Sunday
Van den Brom made only one change to his starting line-up, bringing back the suspended Weidmann in place of van den Belt — a sign he was not yet looking ahead to Sunday’s home league clash with Ajax.
Before the match, Van den Brom insisted no attention had drifted to that fixture. “We have not spoken a single word about Ajax yet,” he said. Ørjasaeter likewise said he had not thought about it. “We will worry about that from Friday,” the coach said, and when asked once more whether the group was secretly looking ahead, he pointed to the Norwegian and nodded: “See.” Around twelve points are expected to be needed across six league-phase matches to achieve that.
Pafos, no pushover despite poor form
Pafos arrived in Enschede with only one point from its first two Conference League matches and seventh place in the domestic league, but Van den Brom had warned against underestimating Cypriot football. Two seasons ago the club reached the round of sixteen of the Conference League, and last season it played in the Champions League, winning against Villarreal and Slavia Praha among others. Champions of Cyprus in 2025 and national cup winners in 2024 and 2026, Pafos had never won a major trophy before 2024. “It’s an experienced side with plenty of individual quality, but I think we are the better team as a whole,” Van den Brom said before the match. “They have many Brazilians who can really play, but it is a bit individualistic. They often don’t defend back, but that also means they are very sharp in attack. It won’t be an easy match for us.”
About 27,000 tickets had been sold for the European tie in De Grolsch Veste, where kick-off was scheduled for 21:00 on Thursday 5 November 2026. Ørjasaeter had struck an optimistic note beforehand: “Our confidence is in good shape.” Van den Brom, for his part, saw no reason to tinker: “We are in really good shape, so it would be strange to change our line-up much.” Max Bruns, Stav Lemkin, Lars Unnerstall and Filip Thorvaldsen remained sidelined through injury.
SC Freiburg next in Europe
Twente’s next league-phase fixture takes it to Germany to face SC Freiburg. On Sunday, Ajax visits De Grolsch Veste, and it is towards that match that Twente will build with confidence after this evening’s hard-fought 3-1 win over Pafos.
