Hearts are out of the Champions League after a 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sturm Graz, with the Austrian side completing a comfortable second-leg win at Tynecastle.
Neil Critchley’s side needed to overturn a four-goal deficit from the first leg in Graz and never looked like doing so, with second-half goals from Simon Seidl and Emran Soglo settling a tie that had long since been decided.
The first half was goalless, though Sturm Graz had the better of the chances. Alexander Schwolow made sharp stops to deny Szymon Wlodarczyk and Jon Gorenc Stankovic, while Seedy Jatta had a goal ruled out by VAR on 26 minutes.
Hearts created little of note, with Blair Spittal’s long-range effort the closest they came to threatening Daniil Khudyakov. Stephen Kingsley was also forced off injured before half-time, adding to the home side’s problems.
Visitors make second-half breakthrough
Sturm Graz made the breakthrough on 64 minutes when Seidl tucked into the bottom corner from the right side of the box following Gorenc Stankovic’s headed knockdown.
Soglo added a second four minutes later, finishing from close range after Wlodarczyk’s through ball split the Hearts defence.
Critchley’s side pushed for a response in the final twenty minutes, with Calvin Miller forcing a save from Khudyakov and substitute Amadou Ba-Sy seeing a shot blocked late on, but they could not find a goal that would have made little difference to the outcome.
After exiting the Champions League, they will now drop into the third round of Europa League qualifying.
