Beau Reus saved two penalties in a shootout to send 10-man Hearts into the Conference League league phase after an extraordinary 2–2 extra-time draw with Rapid Vienna in the play-off second leg.
Rapid looked the sharper side from the outset, pinning Hearts back and testing their defence repeatedly in the first half. The breakthrough came just before the interval when Romeo Amane’s effort from the edge of the area was deflected into the path of Ercan Kara, who converted from close range with Hearts’ defence unable to clear.
Hearts had moments going forward, Claudio Braga pounced on a loose pass but was denied by Niklas Hedl, while Oisin McEntee’s long-range effort was also comfortably saved, but they largely survived a barrage in their own box.
Hearts started the second half with more purpose, Blair Spittal’s sweet volley narrowly missing the target as tactical tweaks gave them greater control. James Wilson, who had scored a stunning long-range goal in the first leg, broke behind the defence only to see his cut-back deflect just wide.
Then came the turning point, Tomas Magnusson, who had just missed a golden chance to head Hearts level, was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Nikolaus Wurmbrand, leaving Hearts with 15 minutes of the match to play down to 10 men.
Undeterred, Pierre Landry Kabore produced an instinctive, unorthodox finish to cancel out Kara’s opener and force extra time, sparking belief that Hearts could complete the turnaround.
In extra time, substitute Rogers Mato found Calvin Miller with a deep, looping cross from the left, and the winger smashed home a spectacular volley to put Hearts ahead on the night and, crucially, on aggregate. Miller appeared to pick up a hamstring injury in the process, but Hearts still had 20 minutes to protect their lead.
Rapid landed a late sucker punch when Moulaye Haidara’s cross was met by Nenad Cvetkovic at the back post, nodding in to level the tie again and send it to penalties.
In the shootout, Miller, Jordi Altena, Mato and Sabah Kerjota all converted for Hearts. Oisin McEntee missed Hearts’ first spot-kick, but Rapid’s Moulaye Haidara then saw his effort saved by Reus, and the goalkeeper produced another superb stop to deny former Celtic midfielder Marco Tilio, sealing a famous win for Wouter Vrancken’s side.
Hearts will now play six Conference League league-phase matches, with the draw for the group stage set to take place on Friday.
Speaking after the game, an ecstatic Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken said: “Amazing, amazing. When you see the game, we played a really bad first half, a little bit similar as we did in Benfica.
“We made agreements, we had a game plan, and we didn’t follow up, we didn’t show the guts to follow up. When you play against a side like Rapid Vienna, when you don’t show it, they can play through you.
“We were already pretty angry at half-time, and we came out, we did much better. We took the game in our hands, we were dominant at that moment. This is already a mental strength, coming back on 1-0 down and coming back like this.
“I think they have to learn that they’re a good team, that they’re good players, that they can show it and show the guts every time, every week, every game again.
“Because in the last away games in Europe, you see that they’re a little bit scared to do things, to take risks or to give spaces away. Then we don’t play our game.
“You saw it two times. But again, the development of the team, the progress of the team is amazing. The team spirit, like you said, I saw it from the first session already.
“Coming together and all those new things, they went into it, they want to learn it.
“They wanted to have feedback, they want to go into it and the kind of football we played. This is the result, they get rewarded, and I’m so happy for them.
“And I think we can make more steps in the coming weeks and hope that we can take the steps as soon as possible, but the work ethic that the players put into it, I’m really proud to work with this group.”