UEFA Conference League REVIEW 26 Aug 2026: Hearts go through in Vienna with ten men and a shootout

One play-off tie in the Conference League on Wednesday, and it took everything it had. SK Rapid and Heart of Midlothian finished 2-2 after extra time at the Allianz Stadion, in front of 23,975, and Hearts won the shootout 4-3 to reach the league phase. They did the last three quarters of an hour of it, and all of extra time, with ten men.

Ercan Kara put Rapid ahead on 34, unmarked at the edge of the box after a Yusuf Demir shot deflected off Oisin McEntee. Hearts had already lost Tom Renaud to injury inside a quarter of an hour, and lost Tomas Magnusson on 76 to a second yellow card for tripping Jannes Horn. Three minutes after that they were level: Landry Kabore, on as a substitute, chested in Blair Spittal's corner. Calvin Miller volleyed them in front on 100 from a Rogers Mato cross, and Nenad Cvetkovic headed Rapid level again on 119, a minute from the end of extra time, from a Moulaye Haidara cross.

In the shootout Calvin Miller, Jordi Altena, Rogers Mato and Sabah Kerjota all scored for Hearts, and Oisin McEntee was the only one of theirs to miss. Ercan Kara, Louis Schaub and Yusuf Demir converted for Rapid, but Moulaye Haidara and Marco Tilio did not, and Beau Reus saved twice to settle it. Wouter Vrancken ran onto the pitch when the last of them was kept out. He was not sentimental about how his side had played: "We played a really bad first half, a little bit similar as we did in Benfica. We had a game plan and we didn't show the guts to follow up." What he did praise was the group. "The progress of the team is amazing. The team spirit, I saw it from the first session."

For Rapid it is a heavy night in a competition they have gone deep in before, their best modern run being the 2024-25 Conference League; sporting director Markus Katzer said they had completely lost momentum and that the club would not sign a player now without selling one first. Johannes Hoff Thorup, who had named the same eleven for a third match running, said there were key moments where they were not careful and that the second half was not good. Hearts, who have won the Scottish Cup eight times and last won the league championship in 1959-60, go into the league phase for a third time in five seasons, with three home ties and three away; the draw is on Friday.