Hearts dumped out of Champions League after heavy aggregate defeat

Hearts saw their Champions League journey come to an abrupt end after a 2-0 home defeat to Sturm Graz; Wouter Vrancken’s side trailed 4-0 from the first leg; Hearts start Scottish Premiership campaign with trip to Aberdeen on Saturday

Hearts’ Champions League dream fizzled out with a meek 2-0 defeat at home to Sturm Graz in the second leg of their second qualifying round tie.

Trailing 4-0 from the first leg in Austria a week earlier, recently-appointed Jambos boss Wouter Vrancken said his team would have to be “almost perfect” if they were to enjoy “a magical, historic night” at Tynecastle.

A bright start gave the home support some hope of a famous fightback, but Graz soon took the sting out of proceedings before eventually closing out a comfortable 6-0 aggregate triumph as two goals midway through the second half consigned the Edinburgh side to a first home defeat in 15 months.

Hearts, who lost Stephen Kingsley and Alexandros Kyziridis to injuries, will now parachute into the Europa League, where they will face the winner of the tie between Benfica and St Gallen in the third qualifying round, with the Swiss side leading 2-1 from the first leg.

Graz boss Fabio Ingolitsch had predicted the Jambos would make “four or five” changes to the side that started the first leg, but Vrancken opted for just three, with Jordi Altena and captain Kingsley added to the defence and creative spark Sabri Guendouz handed his first start in support of striker Claudio Braga.

Belgian Vrancken would have been heartened by the positive start his side made as they pinned the Austrians back early on and they almost went ahead in the ninth minute when Malachi Fagan-Walcott glanced a header just wide from Kyziridis’ free-kick.

Blair Spittal then saw a shot charged down after Kyziridis flicked a low Calvin Miller delivery back into his path on the edge of the box.