Last season’s beaten finalists Athletic Bilbao were made to work hard by Croatian side Slaven Belupo before edging through 4-3 on aggregate in the Europa League third qualifying round.

The pressure on Ajax coach Marco van Basten moved up a notch this afternoon after his side were thrashed 4-1 at Vitesse Arnhem.

IF Elfsborg 2 St Patrick's Athletic 2

AZ Alkmaar kept their slim title aspirations alive after beating mid-table outfit FC Utrecht for the second time in five days.

Ajax returned to the Eredivisie summit on Sunday after a convincing 3-0 win at Heracles.