Hibernian humiliated by Malmo

Alasdair Reid

The Hibs legend, who died on Monday, was honoured with a minute of applause at the start of the game, but nothing that happened thereafter paid tribute to his memory. Hibs were a dominant force in Reilly’s 1950s heyday, but they were bundled out of this Europa League qualifier with jaw-dropping ease.

It was, by every measure, a humiliation. This was Hibs’ record defeat in Europe – their previous worst was a 6-0 hammering by Roma in the 1960-61 Fairs Cup – and it was all the more galling that it happened on home turf. Few of the fans who had packed the stands at the start to pay tribute to Reilly were still there when the final whistle sounded.

Yet as daunting as the task of overturning the 2-0 first-leg deficit seemed, Hibs had at least set about their task with gusto, tenacious in their pursuit of an opportunity to get they early goal they craved.

Malmo looked rattled at times, but they had every right to be satisfied that they were opened up only once in the first 15 minutes, when the unmarked Jordon Forster nodded wide from a corner.

That pattern gave Malmo a sense of comfort that they could scarcely have expected as they had made their way across the North Sea.

There had been a slickness about their play from the start, but that gave way to something more like a swagger as confidence grew in their ranks. And with 20 minutes on the clock they all but killed the contest off with the opening goal.

For a couple of earlier forays, the Swedes had already figured that the path of least resistance was on the right side of the Hibs defence. They exploited the weakness superbly, ripping the Scots open with a well-worked move between Tokelo Rantie and Emil Forsberg, before the ball shot across the 18-yard line to Magnus Erikssen. The striker steadied himself for a moment, then wrong-footed Ben Williams as he swept the ball low into the net.

Hibs’ European hopes were in ruins, but Malmo were not above rubbing a few spoonfuls of Swedish salt into Scottish wounds.

Within a few minutes, Hibs manager Pat Fenlon had removed the struggling James McPake and rearanged his back four, but as makeover jobs go, it was not the most successful ever seen.

No sooner had Fraser Mullen entered the fray than Malmo were collecting their second goal, Forsberg switching roles from provider to finisher as he played a deft one-two with Simon Thern before hammering the ball into the net.

Long-suffering followers of Hibs have rarely subscribed to the notion that things can only get better. And things duly got even worse for them when Markus Halsti grabbed the third, taking advantage of some clever ball protection by Jiloan Hamad. Three goals in the space of nine minutes was gruesome viewing, and the spectacle was not improved one bit in the 41st minute when full-back Miko Albornoz cut inside from the right and hit a fierce shot that went in off the far post.

From that point on, the only question was how bad the rout would be. The answer, as Malmo’s self-belief bllomed and Rantie, Hamad and Simon Kroon hammered in the remaining goals, was just about as bad as three it gets. On a night for remembering, this was a night to forget.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk