Michael Stewart insists the draw Hearts got in the Conference League wouldn't look out of place in the Europa League.
The Jambos failed in their bid to reach the group stage of the continent’s second most prestigious club tournament on Thursday. Trailing 2-1 from their playoff first leg against FC Zurich, Robbie Neilson ’s team threw everything at the Swiss champions in the opening 45 minutes at Tynecastle, but couldn't find a way through.
They were hit with a sucker punch after the break when midfielder Jorge Grant was shown a second yellow for diving in the box, leaving them with an uphill task against 11 men. And their opponents took full advantage, coming out of their shell to net a crucial goal through Fabian Rohner with ten minutes left to seal their progression. But the capital club always knew that they had the safety net of the Europa Conference League.
The draw for the group stage for that competition was made on Friday morning and threw up some mouthwatering trips for the Gorgie faithful. Fiorentina is the standout tie and punters will learn when they can start booking travel to Florence on Saturday, when the fixture dates are confirmed.
A jaunt to Istanbul to face Basaksehir FK isn’t shabby either. Hearts will be expected to beat group outsiders RFS of Riga, and fans will no doubt enjoy visiting the Latvian capital at some point between now and November.
Despite being eliminated, Stewart believes the occasions are Europa League games in all but name. However he acknowledged that Neilson’s men will find it tough to reach the knock-out stages.
“It’s a tie that I don’t think would look out of place in the Europa League,” he told BT Sport. “It’s disappointing for Hearts to have missed out, but when you look at the sides that they’ve drawn, I don’t think it would have been completely out of place in the Europa League itself.
“It's interesting, and great trips as well. Beautiful parts of the world to go and enjoy and sample the different styles of football.
“It’s one that’s going to be tough, inevitably. But the home ties in Europe are obviously going to be key if Hearts have got any chance at all of trying to progress out of this.”
Fellow pundit Chris Sutton agreed with Stewart's point about the level of opposition. And he picked out some of the dangermen to be wary of.
Sutton added: I think it’s a really great draw for Hearts fans. You talk about Fiorentina, they’ve got [Luka] Jovic up top and were sixth or seventh in Serie A last season.
“Istanbul Basaksehir have Mesut Ozil and [Bertrand] Traore on loan from Aston Villa so they are tough ties. But for the Hearts players, this is where you want to be.
“And I take Michael’s point that they are sort of Europa League level ties. Riga is the one where it’s a bit of an open goal but a great draw if you’re a Hearts fan.”
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