10-man Hearts stun Rapid Vienna on penalties to reach Conference League as Celtic's collapse haunts Scotland

Hearts reached the UEFA Conference League main phase for the third time in five seasons on Thursday, defeating Rapid Vienna on penalties in Austria despite playing the majority of the match with 10 men — one night after Celtic’s catastrophic Champions League play-off collapse against LASK dominated Scottish football headlines.

Midfielder Tomas Magnusson was dismissed with a second yellow card while Hearts trailed to Ercan Kara’s first-half goal, leaving the Edinburgh side facing elimination. Landry Kabore equalised to force extra time, and Calvin Miller volleyed Hearts ahead in the 100th minute, only for Nenad Cvetkovic to level at 4-4 on aggregate deep into added time. In the shoot-out, goalkeeper Beau Reus saved twice to send Hearts through.

The tie had been finely balanced after a 2-2 draw at Tynecastle the previous week, and Hearts’ progress was far from certain at multiple points across the two legs.

The Edinburgh club wasted little time acknowledging the broader Scottish context. With Celtic having surrendered a four-goal aggregate advantage against LASK — losing 5-1 on the night in Austria after extra time — Hearts posted on social media: “Winning play-offs in Austria isn’t for everyone…”

Celtic captain Callum McGregor offered a blunt assessment of his side’s performance after the LASK defeat, which drops the Scottish champions into the Europa League and costs the club an estimated £20m in lost Champions League revenue.

“We got what we deserved,” McGregor said. “I thought we were so passive. All night. We actually looked scared to go and win the game, and when you are 3-0 up it’s psychological. To be honest I didn’t think we were that good in the first leg either. We scored at good times and kind of got away with it. You go 3-0 and you think you’ve got a real chance but when you play like that you can’t have any excuse whatsoever.”

McGregor had put Celtic 4-0 up on aggregate with a strike from 18 yards in the 21st minute in Austria before the tie unravelled entirely.

For Hearts manager Wouter Vrancken, the Conference League place represents a significant turnaround after the club suffered heavy defeats to Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying and a 7-2 aggregate loss to Benfica in the Europa League third qualifying round in recent seasons. Celtic had pipped Hearts to the Scottish Premiership title on the final day of last season.