NEC Nijmegen and Levski Sofia met at Goffertstadion in the UEFA Europa League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. NEC Nijmegen and Levski Sofia finished level at 1-1, and neither side ever found the single moment that would have settled it. The turning point came at the 35 minute mark, when Reinaldo struck it with quality, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Neither NEC Nijmegen nor Levski Sofia could find a way through, and the 1-1 draw left both of them looking for the same thing. 11700 supporters filled Goffertstadion, and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read D L L D D for NEC Nijmegen and W L D L W for Levski Sofia, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.
Match facts
- Date: 15.10.2026
- Kick-off: 19:00 UTC
- Venue: Goffertstadion, Nijmegen, Netherlands (12650)
- Attendance: 11700
- Referee: Əliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan)
- Competition: UEFA Europa League 2026/2027 – Matchday 2
- Starting line-ups: NEC Nijmegen (3-4-2-1, Coach: Dick Schreuder) / Levski Sofia (4-3-3, Coach: Julio Velázquez)
- Scorers: Reinaldo 35′ (Levski Sofia); Tjaronn Chery 64′ (NEC Nijmegen)
NEC Nijmegen lined up with Gonzalo Crettaz, Gabriel Brás, Perr Schuurs, Deveron Fonville, Kevin Kers, Darko Nejašmić, Noé Lebreton, Clement Bischoff, Tjaronn Chery, Dušan Tadić, Bryan Linssen in a 3-4-2-1, while Levski Sofia answered with Svetoslav Vutsov, Aldair, Kristian Dimitrov, Christian Makoun, Maicon, Sérginho, Marko Grujić, Mehdi Moubarik, David Kusso, Reinaldo, Everton Bala in a 4-3-3. Dick Schreuder and Julio Velázquez led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.
Goals and key moments
Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 35 minute mark, Reinaldo struck it with quality, with Svetoslav Vutsov supplying the pass that made it possible, and 0-1 was the consequence. It was a chance worth 0.39 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point Levski Sofia could play for the counter while NEC Nijmegen had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. 64′: Tjaronn Chery struck it with quality, and the arena had barely settled before it was 1-1. The chance itself carried 0.67 expected goals of weight, and the goalkeeper had no answer to it. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.
The tactical picture
NEC Nijmegen started in 3-4-2-1 under Dick Schreuder, while Levski Sofia answered with 4-3-3 under Julio Velázquez, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. NEC Nijmegen’s 3-4-2-1 was the sharper of the two systems, and Levski Sofia’s 4-3-3 spent longer than they should have without the ball. NEC Nijmegen pressed high and won the second ball, which left Levski Sofia unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against Levski Sofia, who kept trying to attack down the same flank and were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: NEC Nijmegen moved the ball forward at speed, Levski Sofia could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.
Statistical comparison
The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. NEC Nijmegen attempted 18 shots to Levski Sofia’s 8, with 9 on target against 2. The numbers that decide matches rarely tell the whole story, but they narrow the argument down to a very small area. Expected goals told the sharper story: 1.97 for NEC Nijmegen, 1.34 for Levski Sofia. Possession finished at 51 per cent for NEC Nijmegen against 49 per cent for Levski Sofia, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. NEC Nijmegen won 6 corners to Levski Sofia’s 1, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. NEC Nijmegen completed 355 of 440 passes against 363 of 450 for Levski Sofia, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 14 times by NEC Nijmegen and 14 by Levski Sofia, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 1 and 8 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 64 to 59, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 23 times by NEC Nijmegen and 21 by Levski Sofia, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening. NEC Nijmegen managed 11 shots from inside the penalty area compared with 7 for Levski Sofia, which is the clearest single indicator of where the game was actually played.
Discipline and substitutions
Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. NEC Nijmegen collected 1 yellow cards and Levski Sofia 0, with Noé Lebreton (24′) among the bookings. The caution count of 1 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 5 by NEC Nijmegen and 5 by Levski Sofia, with the last substitution of the evening coming at the 90+4 minute mark. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. Əliyar Aghayev took charge of the match and had a relatively straightforward evening by the standards of the competition.
Player of the match and the standout performers
Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Svetoslav Vutsov of Levski Sofia was the player of the match with a rating of 8.6, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For NEC Nijmegen, the best individual rating belonged to Tjaronn Chery (8.01). For Levski Sofia, the best individual rating belonged to Svetoslav Vutsov (8.57). The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. The goalkeeping was worth a mention too: Gonzalo Crettaz made 1 saves for NEC Nijmegen, and Svetoslav Vutsov made 8 for Levski Sofia. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Tjaronn Chery (8.01), Deveron Fonville (7.92), Svetoslav Vutsov (8.57), Christian Makoun (7.78).
What the result means for the league phase
NEC Nijmegen on 1 points from 2 matches, in 27th place with a goal difference of -5 and Levski Sofia on 1 points from 2 matches, in 25th place with a goal difference of -1. NEC Nijmegen arrived with D L L D D in their last five and Levski Sofia with W L D L W, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. Neither camp will be satisfied with a point, and for both of them the next round carries a little more weight than it would have done yesterday. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.