Laszlo's men no match for ruthless Croatians

Brian Marjoribanks

The build-up to this play-off clash was dominated by the state of the pitch after supergroup U2's concert in the Maksimir Stadium.

However, to quote Bono and Co, 'Pride' is all that will be at stake in next week's return at Tynecastle after Hearts recorded their worst European result in 48 years.
Lee Wallace is sandwiched between Dinamo Zagreb's Andrej Kramaric and Ivan Tomecak

Not since a 4-0 away reversal to Inter Milan in the 1961 UEFA Cup has it been this bad on the Continent for the Jambos.

Poor goalkeeping from Marian Kello allowed Mario Mandzukic and Dimitrios Papadopoulos to set Dinamo on their way, before Ivica Vrdoljak and former Liverpool defender Igor Biscan capitalised on bad defending to complete the humiliation for Csaba Laszlo's men after the break.

This utterly one-sided affair will ensure that Hearts' first European adventure in three years will see them added to the SPL Europa League hall of shame after Falkirk lost to FC Vaduz and Aberdeen were crushed by Sigma Olomouc.

Factor in Scotland's 4-0 loss to Norway in their World Cup qualifier and it is difficult to remember a worse six-week period in Scottish football history.

New skipper Michael Stewart may have made headlines before the game, claiming Scottish referees have it in for Hearts, but even he could not blame Russian match official Nikolay Ivanov for his team's demise last night.

The Scots - albeit with a side featuring eight nationalities - were technically inferior and outplayed at a ground which, admittedly, has historically been unkind to visitors.
Sharp shooter: Mario Mandzukic

Sharp shooter: Mario Mandzukic fires an effort past Eggert Jonsson

The Croatian national team enjoyed 14 unbeaten years at the Maksimir until last September when Fabio Capello's England took their revenge with a 4-1 win. Croatia hero Zvonimir Boban, once of AC Milan, drop-kicked a policeman here during Dinamo's match against the Serbians of Red Star Belgrade i n 1990 - an example of the national tensions which would soon flare into the vicious Balkans conflict.

And winger Regi Blinker was targeted by racists here in 1998 as Celtic crashed out the Champions League 3-1 on aggregate.

The latest victim of this intimidating arena was England goalkeeper Paul Robinson. He was humiliated in 2006 when Gary Neville's backpass bounced over his foot and into the net, his despair made comical as he was pictured in front of a giant grinning picture of Sacha Baron Cohen's character Borat.

Hearts and their fans will know how Robinson felt after this night of embarrassment.

As PRVA League champions for the last four years, Dinamo are a decent enough side, although they lost to Austrians Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League.

Their most recognisable name was veteran Biscan, although Aberdeen fans will doubtless recall striker Papadopoulos scoring against them in a 3-0 UEFA Cup group stage win for Panathinaikos two years ago. The priority for Hearts was to keep a clean sheet but just five minutes had elapsed when they were behind - and it was courtesy of some pitiful goalkeeping by Kello.

His team-mates were a l s o complicit, as the outstanding Pedro Morales turned Ruben Palazuelos far too easily before passing to Sammir.

The B r a z i l i a n ripped Jose Goncalves to pieces down the right wing then crossed. Kello tried to grasp the ball but missed, allowing Mandzukic to ensure maximum embarrassment for the Lithuanian by squeezing a header in between keeper and post.

Mandzukic, the Croatia striker who was subject to a failed £10million bid by Werder Bremen this summer, had vowed before the game to strike fear into the Scots and wasted little time showing that was not an empty threat.

Dinamo continued to turn the screw and Kello made a decent save from a Papadopoulos header before Morales thumped the bar from 25 yards. Papadopoulos then danced past Stewart on the byeline with ease and Hearts were lucky his cutback was poor and easily gathered by Kello.

The best the Scots could muster during a miserable first half was a brief dart up the wing by Suso Santana. But, after being fouled, the Spaniard wasted the free-kick with a dreadful delivery, to Laszlo's visible anger.

Anger yielded to depression minutes later when defender Ismael Bouzid's weak header fell for Sammir.

Kello saved the midfielder's shot but c o u l d t h e n o n l y p a l m Mandzukic's follow-up effort into the path of Papadopoulos, who gleefully knocked home a tap-in from six yards.

Hearts looked in danger of a total collapse as right-back Eggert Jonsson and Laszlo exchanged heated words on the touchline. It was all going horribly wrong and lone striker Christian Nade made it worse by receiving a booking for a crude hack at midfielder Vrdoljak.

Ian Black replaced Bouzid at halftime, with Goncalves moving to centre-half and David Obua going to left midfield. Minutes later, young Gary Glen replaced the dreadful Nade as Laszlo shuffled his pack again.

After 50 minutes, Hearts recorded their first attempt on goal when Suso's drive forced a save from Tomislav Butina.

The excellent Mandzukic, however, nearly extended the scoring as shot narrowly wide under pressure.

Vrdoljak put the contest - and the tie - out of Hearts' reach when he curled a lovely 20-yard shot beyond Kello after substitute Black had lost the ball in an advanced area. Things got even worse when Biscan headed home Dinamo's fourth unchallenged from a Morales corner.

In the end, only a goal-line clearance from Jonsson and a couple of late escapes prevented Hearts from slumping to their worst-ever European result, their previous low being a 5-1 humbling i n Belgium a t the hands o f Standard Liege in 1958.

History will tell us this defeat was just as bad.