Hearts the lone survivors as four Scottish clubs fall in European play-offs | OneFootball

Only Hearts made it through as five Scottish clubs entered European play-offs, the Midlothian club sealing a Conference League spot.

As reported by L'Équipe, it proved a bruising week for Scotland’s representatives.

Hearts defeated Rapid Vienne on penalties, 4-3, after two 2-2 draws to qualify for the Conference League. That followed a troubled summer, with exits in Champions League qualifying to Sturm Graz 6-0 on aggregate and in Europa League qualifying to Benfica 7-2.

Celtic’s Champions League play-off collapsed. They won the first leg 3-0 against Linz, then lost 5-1 after extra time away to the Austrian club, so they drop into the Europa League league phase.

Elsewhere, Hibernian lost to La Gantoise in the Conference League play-offs 3-2 on aggregate. Rangers went out to Jablonec after a 1-1 aggregate, 4-3 on penalties. Motherwell were beaten by Fribourg 4-1 on aggregate.

Last season only two Scottish clubs reached Europe, Aberdeen in the Conference League and Celtic in the Europa League. In 2024-25 there were three, with Celtic in the Champions League, Rangers in the Europa League and Hearts in the Conference League.

Source: L'Équipe

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”