Qabala 1-5 Hajduk Split
As expected Hajduk Split advanced with two wins here. Winning twice, aggregate score 5-1, is exactly the same start compared to last season in round 1 against Shkendija. Qabala was "better" than last season, despite losing twice once again, at least this time the aggregate score was shorter and they scored one goal.
Shamrock Rovers 1-6 AZ Alkmaar
AZ Alkmaar advanced as expected, although last season at this stage they did it with two wins, aggregate score 11-0 vs Qabala, and this time they couldn't win in Ireland. Debutant Shamrock Rovers at least was better than last season's Irish team St. Patrick's, that was also eliminated in round 1 but losing twice.
Jelgava 0-4 MTK
MTK advanced with two wins as expected. It's the first time in their UYL history that they win two consecutive matches. Last season at this stage they eliminated Sparta Praha, winning the home match but then only getting a draw away. Debutant Jelgava was eliminated in round 1 just like all the previous Latvian participants.
Slavia Praha 4-5 Genk
Genk lost the first leg at home, but then recovered away and advanced as expected. Lots of red cards in both matches, in the first leg Slavia Praha and Genk had one red card each, and in the second leg Genk had one and Slavia Praha had three! All these four red cards in the second leg were during second half added time, which was almost like an "extra-time" since it lasted 13 minutes.
Pyunik 0-5 Nantes
As expected Nantes advanced with two wins here. Two wins, aggregate score 5-0, is exactly the same compared to Angers' start last season. Then Angers was eliminated in round 2, will the same happen to Nantes? As for Pyunik, their senior team may be thriving in the Conference League, but success with the youth team is much harder because they can't just import several foreigners.
Pobeda 4-5 Coleraine
Congratulations Coleraine!
I expected Pobeda to advance here because these teams are debutants but Coleraine is also from a debutant country. And yet Coleraine already did in just one attempt what Macedonian clubs were never able to do in several - win a match and progress from the first round. Vardar out in round 1 vs Salzburg in 2016 with two defeats, Shkendija out in round 1 vs Nitra, Dynamo Kyiv and Hajduk Split in 2017, 2019 and 2021 respectively without winning a single game, and now Pobeda here.
Apolonia 4-2 Astana
Congratulations Apolonia!
I expected Astana to advance here because Apolonia is a debutant from Albania and previous Albanian clubs never progressed from round 1 and never even won a match. Vllaznia lost twice against Zimbru in 2017 and twice against Astana in 2018, Shkendija Tirana lost twice against Sheriff in 2019, and in 2021 Akademia e Futibollit got one win and one draw against Septemvri.
Galatasaray 5-1 Csikszereda
Galatasaray advanced as expected. Csikszereda with a small improvement compared to last year, at least this time they didn't lose twice and they scored one goal. The 4-0 win in the second leg is the biggest win in Galatasaray's UYL history, above four 3-0 wins against Anderlecht, Astana twice and Schalke 04 in 2014, 2015 twice and 2018 respectively.
Omonoia 1-3 Crvena Zvezda
Crvena Zvezda advanced as expected. Omonoia's senior team is losing every EL game, and their youth team wasn't any different here. At least the senior team still has the possibility to recover. Last season Crvena Zvezda also won twice in round 1 and then was eliminated in round 2. Let's see if they can do better this time.
Slavia Sofia 2-10 Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos advanced as expected. Greek teams survive round 1 and Bulgarian teams don't. That was the "rule" until last season, when PAOK was eliminated by Zilina in round 1, and Septemvri eliminated Akademia e Futibollit and reached round 2. This season things are back to "normal". Perhaps this is the beginning of Panathinaikos' resurrection, it starts here with the youth team and eventually it will reach the senior team too.
Domzale 2-5 Young Boys
Congratulations Young Boys!
I expected Domzale to advance here because Young Boys never eliminated anyone in their UYL history and was in a winless streak of 8 UYL matches, while Domzale already progressed from round 1 once (2019 vs Viitorul). But I suppose that because most of Young Boys matches are in the group stage part and Domzale was never there, this creates a distortion and makes Young Boys look weaker and Domzale look stronger.
Trencin 5-2 Zalgiris
Trencin lost the first leg in Lithuania but then recovered at home and advanced as expected. Despite being eliminated once again in round 1 just like last season, this was still an improvement for Zalgiris, at least this time they won once while last season they lost twice. Now let's see if their senior team is also capable of winning in the Conference League.
Zaglebie 0-1 Rukh Lviv
Rukh Lviv advanced as expected. I was afraid that I could be overestimating Rukh Lviv because they're from Ukraine and Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv have good academies. It was possible that those two could be hoarding all the talents in the country and there would be nothing left for anyone else. Advancing one round against Zaglebie doesn't make them "talents" yet, let's see how much further they can get.
Racing Union 2-8 AIK
AIK advanced as expected. In their previous participation in 2016 AIK was eliminated by Rosenborg in round 1, this time they progressed from round 1. Racing Union wasn't much different from the previous participant from Luxembourg, Dudelange in 2017. They both lost twice with six goals difference, Dudelange 1-7 vs Sparta Praha.
Hibernian 2-2 Molde (5-4 PSO)
Congratulations Hibernian!
Molde has an unusual attraction for penalty shootouts in UYL. In 2017/2018 they eliminated UCD in round 1 in a penalty shootout, and then they were eliminated by Monaco in the playoff also in a penalty shootout. Now they were eliminated in a penalty shootout once again. Here they tried the "Krul" for the penalty shootout, replacing starter Lervik by sub Bygland, but it was useless since Bygland couldn't save a single shot from Hibernian.
Borac Banja Luka 0-5 Ashdod
Ashdod advanced as expected. Last season Bosnian participant Zvijezda also lost twice in round 1, but the aggregate score was shorter, 0-3 vs Trabzonspor. And Israeli participant last season, Maccabi Haifa, also won twice in round 1 by aggregate score 5-0, against Zalgiris. If Ashdod wins again in round 2 first leg they'll become the first Israeli team winning 3 consecutive matches in UYL history.