Hearts were thrashed by a rampant Fiorentina to leave their Conference League progression hopes hanging in the balance.
Robbie Neilson’s side were blown away in the first half as Luka Jovic, Cristiano Biraghi, Nicolas Gonzalez and Antonin Barak all fired past Craig Gordon in Florence.
Stephen Humphrys pulled one back for the visitors inside the first two minutes of the second half, but Gonzalez restored the four-goal cushion from the penalty spot.
It means Hearts now have to win their two remaining group games against RFS and runaway group leaders Istanbul Basaksehir, and hope that Fiorentina only take a maximum of one point from their remaining fixtures.
More to follow.
Line-ups
Fiorentina
Formation 4-3-3
- 95Gollini
- 15Terzic
- 4Milenkovic
- 98dos Santos de Paulo
- 3BiraghiBooked at 69minsSubstituted forVenutiat 80′minutesBooked at 85mins
- 72BarakSubstituted forBiancoat 80′minutes
- 34S Amrabat
- 38MandragoraSubstituted forDuncanat 45′minutes
- 22González
- 7JovicSubstituted forSaponaraat 45′minutes
- 99KouaméSubstituted forMendonça Cabralat 87′minutes
Substitutes
- 1Terracciano
- 2Cordeiro Dos Santos
- 5Bonaventura
- 8Saponara
- 9Mendonça Cabral
- 11Ikoné
- 14Maleh
- 16Ranieri
- 23Venuti
- 27Zurkowski
- 32Duncan
- 42Bianco
Hearts
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Gordon
- 12AtkinsonSubstituted forSibbickat 16′minutesBooked at 69mins
- 3Kingsley
- 19CochraneBooked at 78mins
- 16Halliday
- 5HaringBooked at 48mins
- 14Devlin
- 17ForrestSubstituted forKiomourtzoglouat 45′minutes
- 7GrantSubstituted forSmithat 45′minutesBooked at 87mins
- 18McKaySubstituted forHendersonat 75′minutes
- 29HumphrysSubstituted forShanklandat 74′minutes
Substitutes
- 8Kiomourtzoglou
- 9Shankland
- 13Stewart
- 21Sibbick
- 22Henderson
- 27Smith
- 28Clark
- 39Pollock
- 45Tait
Live Text
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Match ends, Fiorentina 5, Heart of Midlothian 1.
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Second Half ends, Fiorentina 5, Heart of Midlothian 1.
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Attempt missed. Alessandro Bianco (Fiorentina) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
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Foul by Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina).
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Euan Henderson (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Arthur Cabral (Fiorentina).
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Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Connor Smith (Heart of Midlothian) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Nicolás González (Fiorentina) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Foul by Connor Smith (Heart of Midlothian).
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Substitution, Fiorentina. Arthur Cabral replaces Christian Kouamé.
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Lorenzo Venuti (Fiorentina) is shown the yellow card.
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Lorenzo Venuti (Fiorentina) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian).
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Foul by Lorenzo Venuti (Fiorentina).
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Andrew Halliday (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Alessandro Bianco (Fiorentina).
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Euan Henderson (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Attempt missed. Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from more than 35 yards is just a bit too high.
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Foul by Igor Julio (Fiorentina).