A HAT-TRICK of defeats for Scottish teams in Europe and a sobering few days for football in this country was rounded off at Tynecastle last night when Hearts were blown away by Fiorentina.
With Rangers losing to Liverpool in England on Tuesday and Celtic going down to RB Leipzig in Germany on Wednesday, the capital club had the chance to give the game here a much-needed lift by recording a famous result. It was not to be.
Goals from Rolando Mandragora and Christian Kouame gave Vincenzo Italiano’s side a comfortable half-time lead and Luka Jovic completed their one-sided triumph late in the second-half.
The Conference League may be a couple of levels down from the Champions League. But there are still some formidable sides from major nations in it. The Italians are one of them. They have held Napoli and Juventus to draws in Serie A this season and their starting line-up contained Argentinian, Italian, Ivorian, Moroccan and Serbian internationalists. They proved to be far too good.
The visitors’ form coming into their third Group A match gave the Hearts supporters who braved the elements and descended on Gorgie en masse hope; Fiorentina had drawn 1-1 with RFS at home and been beaten 3-0 away by Istanbul Basaksehir in their opening two outings and were bottom of the section.
Craig Gordon and his team mates were two points above their adversaries in second spot courtesy of their 2-0 triumph in Latvia before the international break. But they could have no complaints about the final outcome or being leapfrogged in the table. They will have their work cut out progressing to the knockout rounds now.
It took just over three minutes for Fiorentina to take the lead. Right back Aleksa Terzic cut inside Andy Halliday and picked out Mandragora in the penalty box. The midfielder was completely unmarked and had time and space to nod beyond Gordon. It was way too easy and the worst possible start for Hearts.
Neilson was keen to counteract the high press which his opposite number favours by adopting a more direct game plan. He brought in Josh Ginnelly alongside Barrie McKay and Lawrence Shankland in his front three and dropped Alan Forrest. But shelling long balls upfield whenever they won possession proved to be a fruitless tactic.
Jorge Grant did get a header on target soon after Hearts had fallen behind when he got on the end of a Halliday delivery from wide on the left flank. But his effort lacked power and was easily gathered by Fiorentina goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini.
The hosts spent long spells camped deep inside their own half defending furiously and were fortunate not to concede again to rivals who caused them all kinds of problems with their passing, movement, technique and physicality.
Jovic went close at a Cristiano Biraghi corner, Saponara jinked through the defence effortlessly and chipped to the back post and centre half Igor burst forward and tried his luck from long-range. Only a brilliant fingertip save by Gordon denied the defender the second.
But it was only a matter of time before it came. Kouame finally added another two minutes before half-time after Grant attempted unsuccessfully to head the ball to safety inside his area. The striker buried an acrobatic finish. It was no more than Fiorentina deserved.
The large travelling support that was billeted at the back of the Roseburn Stand revelled in the Florence outfit’s dominance and drowned out their Hearts counterparts despite being vastly outnumbered.
Hearts were gifted an unexpected chance to pull one back in added on time at the end of the opening 45 minutes when Giacomo Bonaventura slipped. Ginnelly pounced on the mistake. But he fired straight at the advancing Gollini.
Italiano came out of his technical area as Fiorentina made their way back to the dressing room and gave Riccardo Saponara a rollicking. His charges had bossed proceedings. It was, though, clearly not good enough.
Hearts started the second-half positively when Halliday volleyed a Ginnelly cross at goal. But when Belgian referee Erik Lambrechts red carded Lewis Neilson for a last man foul on Jovic it killed off their slim hopes of staging a comeback. The teenager will learn from the experience. He will not face many better teams in the long career he has ahead of him.
Neilson put on Stephen Humphreys for Shankland, Cammy Devlin for Grant and Nathan Atkinson for Michael Smith after Neilson’s ordering off and his men did, despite being at a numerical disadvantage, apply some pressure thereafter. Wigan Athletic loanee Humphreys in particular made a difference.
That said, Gordon was called into action on more than one occasion. The Scotland internationalist did well to keep the scoreline respectable. Gary Mackay-Steven and Forrest took to the field as McKay and Ginnelly came off. Could the wingers inject some energy into Hearts’ attacking endeavours?
Fiorentina grabbed a third on the counter with 11 minutes remaining. Kouame squared to Jovic who fired into the roof of the net. Hearts supporters headed for the exits in their droves and the stands were half full when the match official blew the final whistle.
The Violets, former European Cup Winners’ Cup champions and UEFA Cup finalists, may no longer be the force they once were on the continent. But the gulf in quality last night was stark. The rematch in the Stadio Artemio Franchi next Thursday evening promises to be challenging to say the least.
