Glorious Hearts give Levein his bragging rights

Paul Kiddie

BRAGA 2
Tomas (12), Jaime (77)

HEARTS 2
DeVries (28, 48)

HEARTS players are today basking in the glory of a famous UEFA Cup triumph, the win over Braga one of the club’s finest achievements in its proud 130-year history.

Nobody had given the Jambos much of a chance when the draw paired them with the Portuguese aces but Craig Levein’s side produced another heroic European performance to march into the money-spinning group stages of the competition.

Last season’s win over Bordeaux may have been the highlight of Levein’s managerial career, although Hearts ultimately went out after losing the return at Tynecastle.

The victory last night, however, was Levein’s finest hour, easily surpassing anything he has achieved to date. Vienna, Mostar and Leipzig may also rank high among Hearts fans’ fondest Euro memories but this stunning triumph must surely be the pick of the bunch since the Jambos’ first adventure into Europe against Belgians Standard Liege in the European Cup in 1958.

Mark de Vries was the match-winner in Bordeaux with his solitary strike and the Dutch talisman climbed off the treatment table to repeat his heroics in the breathtaking Estadio Municipal, his glory double blasting the Gorgie outfit through to the next phase.

The stadium is an incredible feat of modern technology having been carved into the granite of Mount Castro at a cost of £34million. But it was Braga who were reduced to rubble long before the end of the tie.

Man mountain De Vries had been on crutches only a matter of days before the tie and had been struggling so badly that Levein had ruled him out of the game on Tuesday. However, the front man, so crucial to the balance of this Hearts team, defied the pain barrier with the aid of an injection to score the most crucial goals of his career.

While the Dutchman will rightly take the plaudits for his bravery in leading the line in a 4-5-1 formation, his impressive display was just one in a fantastic team effort as Hearts outfought, out-thought and eventually outplayed their Superliga opponents to leave Levein glowing with pride at full-time.

"I am obviously very pleased to progress to the group stages of the UEFA Cup," he said.

"It means a lot to the club, the players, myself and most importantly the supporters. Braga have some very good players and created some very good chances last night and it was very difficult for us. We had some luck with the goals but in the first leg we scored some good ones. Sometimes when you work hard, you get the breaks.

"Also, you need a bit of good fortune when playing away from home in Europe. Our goalkeeper made some good saves but the defence, midfield and strikers all worked hard."

Defending a 3-1 advantage from the first leg at Murrayfield, Levein had been hoping to see his players withstand the early onslaught from the home side but things couldn’t have got off to a worse start with Joao Tomas firing the Portuguese ahead after just 12 minutes.

The striker pounced on a misunderstanding between Craig Gordon and full-back Robbie Neilson to lob the Scotland keeper from the tightest of angles. Neilson almost atoned for his error when his 19th-minute shot was deflected just inches wide of Paulo Santos’ right-hand post but the away goal the Jambos had been craving arrived nine minutes later.

Captain Paulo Jorge was woefully short with an attempted header back to Santos and De Vries was alert to the situation and nipped in to tuck the ball behind the keeper.

The home fans were stunned into silence as the 1500 Hearts supporters went wild with delight and while Jaime, Sergio and Wender all tested Gordon before the break, the Jambos went in at the interval well worth the 1-1 draw.

Three minutes after the restart and De Vries was on the mark again to practically kill off the tie.

Drifting in from the right, the Dutchman let fly from just outside the area, his shot taking a deflection on its way past Santos.

The strike left the home side needing to score another four goals and the sight of Peter Houston leaping around the technical area as if he had just won the lottery told its own story.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of the Portuguese and Andy Webster could have stretched the Jambos’ advantage when he headed wide from good position from Paul Hartley’s free-kick in the 54th minute.

Castanheira then came close before Gordon again defied Sergio with a fine stop. However, the keeper had no chance with the equaliser.

Moments after Neilson had cleared a header off the line, Braga were back on level terms with 14 minutes remaining. A corner whipped in from the right was missed by everyone until it struck Jaime’s leg and the ball found its way past Neilson on the line.

Although a place in the group stages was already secured, there was a steely determination from Hearts not to actually lose the match. Tomas had a late effort ruled out for offside but that would have been cruel on the Gorgie outfit. Levein explained afterwards that comments made by his Braga counterpart in the build-up to the clash had helped spur on his players. He said: "It was important for a lot of reasons. We need the money so that was crucial. But for me it was my best achievement as a manager. Last season I was disappointed when we lost to Bordeaux as I felt we could have progressed to the next round. I was desperate to get back and prove we could go further in the competition. I also took great satisfaction in proving to the Braga coach that we are a good team.

"We played the game on the field, he played it with his mouth. Before the first leg at Murrayfield he was disrespectful to us. We won 3-1 and he should have said that we deserved to win because it was true.

"He said we were a poor team and didn’t like the style of football we played. All he did was make my players very angry and they proved that 11 players who are determined and work hard can beat a team of 11 good individuals.

"The players read the reports themselves and were disgusted by his behaviour. I have not been involved in European games that often but normally coaches are respectful to each other and each other’s teams.

"He wasn’t and I think it made a difference to the result. I didn’t even speak to him at the end as I was not interested. The players were very annoyed by what he said and asked me to say this."

Levein admitted it was De Vries who opted to play at the last moment, a decision which paid handsome dividends.

"I had ruled out Mark earlier in the week and didn’t think he had any chance. But he said to me the day before the game that he was feeling better. He a trained a wee bit on the morning of the match and was in a lot of pain. He took a painkilling injection and it was very courageous of him. I am grateful he played as he made a difference. He made the decision that he wanted to play against Braga. Ramon Pereira also took an injection to be involved and that shows we have a lot players who want to play for the club and the supporters. That is important in a team game. You can’t have 11 individuals. They must play as a team.

"And this is a Hearts team which has written a new chapter in the history books."

Taken from the Scotsman