Sporting Braga 2 - 2 Hearts

ROB ROBERTSON at Estádio Municipal de Braga October 01 2004

Aggregate 3-5

CRAIG LEVEIN, the Hearts coach, said last night that the "disrespectful behaviour" of the Braga manager, Jesualdo Ferreira, had inspired the Edinburgh side to UEFA Cup success.

Levein said both he and his players were furious at Ferreira's attitude.

"We played the game on the pitch and he played it with his mouth," said an irate Levein. "He was disrespectful before the first leg and even said after we'd won that 3-1 we were a poor team and he did not like our style of play. All he did was make my players angry. The players read the cuttings and they were disgusted by his behaviour.

Levein had been asked by his players to spell out publicly their anger at Ferreira's words and the way he belittled their efforts after the first leg. Asked if he had spoke to Ferreira after last night,s game, Levein said: "I was not interested in speaking to him."

Levein said Marc de Vries had only played after he had taken a painkilling injection.

Levein said: "I did not make the decision to play him. Marc did. He was in pain, but the fact he played showed we have people who will do anything for this club."

Ferreira, whose English is normally word perfect, tried to give the impression he did not understand when asked about Levein's comments. he would only say: "I know my team and I know what I had to do with them, it was a bad night for us."

It was, however, a magnificent night for Hearts. In a stunning stadium packed into a Portuguese mountain-side, Levein's side scaled the heights.

The grandeur of the £52m Estádio Municipal de Braga, which is built into the side of Mount Castro, was the perfect stage for one of the greatest nights in the history of the Tynecastle club.

The man who secured glory for Hearts was, of course, de Vries whose two goals saw Hearts through and sent their 2000 faithful supporters into raptures at the prospect of four more UEFA Cup matches in the coming months.

Both his efforts were typical opportunistic strikers' goals and, although he had a slice of luck for the second, it was no more than the Dutchman deserved.

His first came after he pounced on a mix-up between Braga goalkeeper Paulo Santos and captain Paulo Jorge in 27 minutes which allowed him to roll the ball into an empty net.

His second just after half- time came after he barged his way past two defenders before hitting a left-foot shot which was deflected into the net.

It was a match in which the character of the Hearts team shone. Their discipline was a vital ingredient in their success. Indeed, many of Levein's players, such as Neil MacFarlane and Patrick Kisnorbo, came of age last night. Their resilience shone through after they had started badly. They committed the cardinal sin of losing an early goal, but managed to keep their nerve under trying circumstances.

It was bad defending, particularly by Robbie Neilson, that allowed Braga to take the lead through João Tomás in only 11 minutes when he lobbed the Craig Gordon.

Hearts, though, refused to crumble. Instead the Edinburgh side, playing a 4-5-1 formation, tightened up in midfield, calmed down at the back and ran themselves into the ground.

Braga did get a goal back when Jaime bundled the ball home in 76 minutes, but once again Hearts managed to take the sting out of the game by playing an intricate series of passes in midfield .

Although de Vries will grab the headlines, it was the Hearts midfield which proved the catalyst for success. The pick of the bunch was MacFarlane who put in a power of running.

It has been a turbulent week for Hearts with chief executive Chris Robinson selling his shares to the Lithuanian multi-millionaire Vladimir Romanov.

It was against this unsettled background that Levein prepared his team for the biggest game of their careers. They did not let him down.

The big smile on the face of the much vilified Robinson, who had flown in for the game, showed what the win meant to everyone concerned with the club.

Taken from the Herald