Link to newsround

Scottish clubs suffer a European nightmare, but there's hope in Hearts

An image showing Rangers players looking down, Celtic players looking dejected and a Hearts player hands aloft celebrating in front of a map of Europe. Image source, Getty Images
  • Published

Scottish football clubs have endured a bruising start to their European adventures, with dramatic collapses, red cards, late goals and painful penalty shoot-outs.

Of the five teams that entered this season's competitions, only Celtic and Hearts will continue in Europe beyond August.

Celtic

Sebastian Tounekti of Celtic reacts after the Champions League defeat to LASK.Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Sebastian Tounekti of Celtic reacts after the Champions League defeat to LASK

Celtic suffered the biggest shock in the Champions League play-off.

They beat Austrian champions LASK 3-0 in Glasgow and then scored first in the return match, giving them an enormous 4-0 overall lead.

But LASK fought back to win 5-1 after extra time and knocked Celtic out of the competition 5-4 over the two games.

Celtic will now enter the Europa League instead.

Manager Martin O'Neill accepted the blame. He said: "We should have been out of sight by half-time." He added: "But that's my team and that's my responsibility."

Celtic's Europa League fixtures will see them take on Marseille, Benfica and Besiktas.

Rangers

The rangers team gather together. Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Rangers will not play in Europe for the first time in nine years

Rangers' European campaign is completely over. They had already dropped out of the Europa League after losing 3-2 overall to Polish club Jagiellonia Bialystok.

They then faced Jablonec of the Czech Republic in a Conference League play-off. Rangers won the first match 1-0, but lost the second by the same score before being beaten 4-3 on penalties.

Rangers manager Derek McInnes said: "I'm embarrassed with the performance." He added: "We got what we deserved."

Hibs

Warren O'Hora of Hibernian looking disappointed after defeat to Gent.Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Warren O'Hora of Hibernian looking disappointed after defeat to Gent

Hibernian suffered late heartbreak against Belgian side Gent in the Conference League. Hibs led 2-1 with six minutes remaining, but conceded an equaliser and then lost 3-2 after Miguel Chaiwa accidentally turned the ball into his own net during added time.

Motherwell

Willy Vogt of Motherwell FC, Lukas Fadinger of Motherwell FC and Joe Hodge of Motherwell FC looks dejected during the defeat to Freiburg.Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Willy Vogt, Lukas Fadinger and Joe Hodge of Motherwell look dejected after defeat to Freiburg

Motherwell were also eliminated, losing 7-2 overall to German club Freiburg. Motherwell had a player sent off in each match.

Manager Alfred Johansson said Freiburg "were the better team over the two legs", but praised his players for fighting hard.

Hearts

Rogers Mato of Hearts celebrates as Hearts progress to the group stages of the Uefa Conference League.Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Rogers Mato of Hearts celebrates as Hearts progress to the group stages of the Uefa Conference League

However, Hearts have something to celebrate.

After heavy earlier defeats by Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying and Benfica in the Europa League qualifying, they beat Rapid Vienna 4-3 on penalties to reach the Conference League league phase.

Manager Wouter Vrancken said the team's progress had been "amazing".

In the Conference League, they'll now face Monaco who finished seventh in the French Ligue 1 last season under new Scotland head coach Sebastian Pocognoli.

Pafos in Cyprus, Bosnian champions Borac, Mohammed Salah's Trabzonspor in Turkey, Danish team Nordsjaelland and Thun in Switzerland.