{"id":750945,"date":"2026-08-27T02:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/750945\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T02:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:28:13","slug":"ten-man-hearts-stun-rapid-vienna-in-shootout-to-reach-conference-league-conference-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/750945\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten-man Hearts stun Rapid Vienna in shootout to reach Conference League | Conference League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beau Reus made two penalty saves as heroic Hearts overcame Tomas Magnusson\u2019s red card to pull off a stunning shootout victory away to Rapid Vienna, and book themselves a return to the Conference League\u2019s main phase.<\/p>\n

Following a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Tynecastle, the Jambos\u2019 European journey looked to be fizzling out when they were reduced to 10 men in the 75th minute of the playoff round second leg, while already trailing to Ercan Kara\u2019s first-half goal.<\/p>\n

Substitute Landry Kabor\u00e9 equalised a few minutes later before Calvin Miller volleyed 10-man Hearts<\/a> ahead in the 10th minute of extra-time. Rapid hit back in the 119th minute, Nenad Cvetkovic\u2019s goal making it 4-4 on aggregate.<\/p>\n

But Hearts rediscovered their poise to edge the shootout 4-3 and secure what may be their most significant result in Europe for more than two decades. It means they will compete in the Conference League proper for the third time in five seasons.<\/p>\n

The visitors suffered a blow in the 15th minute when Tom Renaud was carried off after Rapid attacker Petter Dahl fell awkwardly on his leg while being fouled by Jordi Altena. \u00adMagnusson replaced the Frenchman but Hearts were struggling to get a foothold early on, and the breakthrough came for Rapid in the 34th\u00a0minute.<\/p>\n

Calvin Miller finishes acrobatically to put Hearts ahead in extra time Photograph: Lukas Grinaj\/SNS Group<\/p>\n

Demir\u2019s low shot from the right took a nick off Oisin McEntee and broke kindly to the unmarked Kara, who slotted into the empty net from six yards out. Hearts were almost handed a way back into it when Cl\u00e1udio Braga seized on a loose pass but his angled shot from inside the box was beaten away by Niklas Hedl.<\/p>\n

Hearts enjoyed a spell of pressure towards the end of the half, with Josh McPake and McEntee threatening with shots from outside the box. After the break, the Jambos captain, Blair Spittal, volleyed just wide from 20 yards out, before James Wilson and Braga both spurned opportunities.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideChampions League: Fenerbahce stun Lyon, Viking march onShow\"\"<\/p>\n

Fenerbahce upset Lyon in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday to advance, while Viking Stavanger joined fellow Norwegians Bod\u00f8\/Glimt in the league phase with victory over Dinamo Zagreb.<\/p>\n

With the teams locked at 1-1 from the first leg in Istanbul a week ago, the Turkish giants opened up a 2-0 lead in the first half of the return fixture in France.\u00a0Vedat Muriqi and English defender Archie Brown [pictured] were on target for the visitors, with winger Malick Fofana giving Lyon faint hope in the second half.<\/p>\n

Viking hit back from a goal down on the night against Dinamo Zagreb, winning 3-1 in Norway and 5-3 on aggregate. Albania’s Arber Hoxha gave Dinamo an early lead but Zlatko Tripic equalised from the penalty spot just eight minutes later. Two early goals in the second half from Edvin Austb\u00f8 and Tobias Moi sealed Viking\u2019s progress to their first Champions League group phase.<\/p>\n

Barnabas Varga scored a double and former Real Madrid forward Luka Jovic added another as AEK Athens cruised into the league phase with a 4-0 thrashing of Levski Sofia. Romania’s Razvan Marin added a penalty as the Greeks booked their progress following a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

Panama\u2019s Cristian Mart\u00ednez scored the extra-time winner for Slovan Bratislava as they overcame Slovenian champions Celje. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Andraz Sporar gave the Slovakians an early lead at Celje but Svit Seslar equalised fom the penalty spot, before Mart\u00ednez secured a 3-2 aggregate success. AFP<\/p>\n

Champions League: qualified teams and predicted pots<\/p>\n

Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Internazionale, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid.<\/p>\n

Pot 2:\u00a0Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV Eindhoven.<\/p>\n

Pot 3:\u00a0Feyenoord, Lille, Bod\u00f8\/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray.<\/p>\n

Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, Lask, Como, Lens, Viking, Sabah.<\/p>\n

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Magnusson then sent a close-range header wide from a Spittal free-kick, but the Icelandic midfielder\u2019s night was cut short when he was shown a second yellow card for a trip on Jannes Horn in the 76th minute.<\/p>\n

Despite the setback, Wouter Vrancken\u2019s side drew level within three minutes, as Kabor\u00e9 adjusted his body and chested Spittal\u2019s corner into the net at the near post, sending the game to extra time.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, Hearts went ahead in the 100th minute when Miller acrobatically volleyed in a cross from substitute Rogers Mato. But just as the depleted Jambos looked like hanging on, Cvetkovic knocked in Moulaye Haidara\u2019s cross in the 119th minute to force penalties.<\/p>\n

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Hearts keeper Beau Reus saves a penalty from Marco Tilio and send his side into the Conference League. Photograph: Christian Hofer\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Miller, Altena, Mato and Sabah Kerjota all scored from the spot for Hearts, with McEntee the only Hearts player to miss. Reus saved two kicks, denying Haidara and Marco Tilio to emerge as the hero in Vienna.<\/p>\n

Victory brought welcome relief for Vrancken after a punishing run of European results, with his side losing 6-0 on aggregate to Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers. Hearts then lost 6-1 in Lisbon and 7-2 on aggregate to Benfica in the Europa League, dropping into the Conference League playoffs as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played a really bad first half, a little bit similar [to] Benfica. We had a game plan and we didn\u2019t show the guts to follow up,\u201d Vrancken told BBC Scotland. \u201cWe were already pretty angry at half-time, and we came out, we did much better. We took the game in our hands, we were dominant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to learn that they\u2019re a good team, that they\u2019re good players, that they can show it and show the guts every time, every week, every game,\u201d the Belgian added. \u201cBecause in the last away games in Europe, you see that they\u2019re a little bit scared to do things, to take risks or to give spaces away.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the progress of the team is amazing. The team spirit, I saw it from the first session. They want to learn. They wanted to have feedback, they want to go into it and the kind of football we played. This is the result, they get rewarded, and I\u2019m so happy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beau Reus made two penalty saves as heroic Hearts overcame Tomas Magnusson\u2019s red card to pull off a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-750945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}