FC Twente produced the comeback of the Conference League night, recovering from Lele's first-half opener and surviving a barrage of pressure to beat ten-man Pafos 3-1 at the Grolsch Veste — with Daouda Weidmann creating the equaliser and scoring the third in a perfect third straight league-phase win.
For an hour, this looked like Pafos's night. The Cypriot side led, defended heroically and watched their goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki make a string of saves as Twente racked up an astonishing 27 shots, 15 of them on target. Then, in the space of twenty minutes, everything collapsed: an equaliser, a red card and two more goals.
Lele strikes, Majecki stands tall
Pafos arrived in Enschede with a plan and executed it superbly for forty minutes. Twente dominated possession and territory but ran repeatedly into Majecki, whose handling and reflexes frustrated the home crowd as chance after chance went begging. Then, on 40 minutes, the sucker punch: Lele fired Pafos in front, silencing the Grolsch Veste and giving the visitors a lead their defensive discipline had earned.
The second half became a siege. Twente threw bodies forward, worked the ball from flank to flank and kept Majecki at full stretch — the Pafos keeper made save after save, a one-man barrier between Twente and the equaliser. The full match data is available via Sportradar's match centre, and the shot count tells the story of a home side refusing to accept the script.
The breakthrough finally came on 62 minutes. Weidmann, Twente's most inventive player all night, created the opening and Ruud Nijstad headed home the equaliser to make it 1-1 and send the home fans into delirium. Pafos had defended their lead for twenty-two minutes of the second half; now the momentum was a red tide flowing one way.
Red card turns the tide completely
Two minutes after the equaliser, the match tilted decisively. Lele — the goalscorer — collected his second yellow card and was sent off on 64 minutes, leaving Pafos to protect a draw with ten men against a side that had already forced thirteen saves from their goalkeeper. It was a collapse of discipline at the worst possible moment, and Twente smelled blood.
On 76 minutes the comeback was complete. Younes Taha supplied the pass and Sondre Orjasaeter made it 2-1, finally beating Majecki low as the ten men ran out of legs and cover. Six minutes later the night belonged to Weidmann: set up by Thomas Van Den Belt, Weidmann scored Twente's third on 82 minutes — a goal and an assist for the midfielder who had driven the comeback from the moment Pafos scored.
Pafos's players sank to the turf at full time. They had come within half an hour of a famous away win and instead left with nothing, their resistance broken by the red card and by Twente's remorseless shot volume. In a competition where fine margins decide league-phase fates — as the stalemate in our report on KuPS's goalless draw with Gent showed on the same night — Lele's second yellow will haunt them.
So what does this win actually mean?
Twente stay perfect: three wins from three, nine points, and a league-phase position that already has one foot in the knockout rounds. More importantly, they have now won a game from behind against organised, stubborn opposition — the kind of result that builds a European identity. Weidmann's emergence as the side's creative heartbeat is the story of their campaign so far.
For Pafos, the positives are real but the points are gone. Majecki's heroics and Lele's goal deserved something from the night; the red card took it away. They remain a dangerous side for anyone in this competition, but away form and discipline must improve if their league-phase campaign is to end in qualification rather than what-ifs.
Beyond the Final Whistle verdict: This was Twente's night of proof — proof they can suffer, stay patient and still overwhelm stubborn European opposition. Weidmann ran the comeback and the Grolsch Veste is becoming a fortress in this competition. Was Lele's red card the turning point, or would Twente's 27 shots have told in the end anyway? Let us know what you think in the comments.
