Hearts reached the Conference League’s main phase after beating Rapid Vienna 4-3 on penalties, despite playing the latter stages with 10 men. The result is a major European achievement for the Scottish side, who recovered from a difficult qualifying campaign and may have secured their most significant continental victory for more than 20 years.

After the first leg ended 2-2, Rapid led through Ercan Kara before Tomas Magnusson was sent off in the 76th minute. Landry Kaboré equalised soon afterwards and Calvin Miller put Hearts ahead in extra time, but Nenad Cvetkovic made it 4-4 on aggregate in the 119th minute; goalkeeper Beau Reus then saved two penalties to seal victory. Hearts will play in the Conference League proper for the third time in five seasons, having previously been heavily beaten by Sturm Graz and Benfica in qualifying.