Torreense 3-2 Ararat-Armenia. Torreense produced one of the great European comebacks in Leiria, scoring twice in stoppage time — Javi Vazquez at 90+3 and Musa Drammeh at 90+5 — to beat Ararat-Armenia 3-2 in a match that had two red cards, five goals and chaos from start to finish.
Some matches you describe. This one you simply survive. At the Estadio Dr Magalhaes Pessoa in Leiria, two sides who started the night near the bottom of the league-phase table — Torreense on three points, Ararat on none — produced a classic: a goalscorer sent off in the first half, a goalkeeper sent off in the second, and a two-goal stoppage-time comeback that will be talked about in Torres Vedras for years. The full match record is on Sportradar's match page.
Aguirre scores, then sees red
Jorge Aguirre gave Ararat a dream start on 13 minutes, finishing from Javi Vazquez's assist — but his night turned in the same half when he was sent off after scoring, leaving the visitors to play most of the match with ten men. Remarkably, Ararat still extended their lead: Karen Muradyan made it 2-0 on 41 minutes from Zhirayr Shaghoyan's assist, and the ten men went in at half-time two goals up and dreaming of their first points of the campaign.
Torreense needed a spark and found one on 58 minutes, Bruno Wilson heading in from Artur Serobyan's delivery to halve the deficit. Then came the second red card, and it broke Ararat's resistance for good: goalkeeper Joao Victor was sent off on 76 minutes, forcing replacement keeper Arman Nersesyan into a defence already running on fumes.
Two goals in stoppage time complete the miracle
What followed was pure theatre. Torreense threw everything forward, and in the third minute of stoppage time Javi Vazquez rose to head in David Bruno's cross and level the match at 2-2. The stadium had barely caught its breath when, two minutes later at 90+5, Musa Drammeh scored the winner to complete a comeback from 2-0 down with two goals in added time. Nine-man Ararat, who led for 80 minutes, collapsed at the very last. Fine margins decided games all over the competition — Levski Sofia's 1-0 win over Jagiellonia was settled by a single goal — but nothing anywhere matched this.
Credit, too, to the nine men who nearly held out. Ararat defended their box heroically for long stretches, Muradyan's goal giving them something real to protect, and even after Joao Victor's dismissal the makeshift rearguard survived wave after wave — until the 93rd minute. But football at this level is merciless about numbers: two players fewer, legs gone, a replacement goalkeeper facing a bombardment of crosses. Vazquez's header cracked them, and once the equaliser went in, Drammeh's winner felt almost inevitable, the final act of a game that had long since stopped obeying logic.
So what does this mean for Torreense and Ararat?
For Torreense, three points become six, and a campaign that was drifting now has genuine life. Comebacks like this do more than add points — they change how a squad believes, and Drammeh's winner will be replayed in that dressing room all season. For Ararat, still on zero points, this is the cruellest defeat of their European season: two goals up with ten men, then nine men, beaten by two headers and a winner in the 95th minute. Discipline cost them everything — a striker and a goalkeeper sent off in a game they were winning is a self-inflicted wound no game plan survives.
Beyond the Final Whistle: two red cards, a 2-0 lead blown, and two goals at 90+3 and 90+5 — this was the wildest game of the Europa League season, full stop. Torreense never stopped believing and Drammeh wrote his name into club folklore. Is this the greatest comeback of the league phase so far? Let us know in the comments.
