Hearts suffer Greek tragedy
Hearts keeper Craig Gordon could not keep AEK Athens at bay
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Wednesday, 23, Aug 2006 10:52
Nine-man Hearts saw their Champions League dream disappear as they lost 3-0 to AEK Athens in Greece.
Already trailing 2-1 from the first leg, the Jambos conceded three goals in the last 11 minutes as AEK qualified for the group stages of the Champions League.
Despite the disappointing performance, Hearts will be looking at the role played by Russian referee Yuri Baskakov in the defeat.
Question marks will be raised by his decision to book Julien Brellier on 25 minutes for wearing an earring on the pitch, with the French midfielder being sent off five minutes later for raising his arm when challenging for the ball.
However, despite the dubious circumstances surrounding the sending off of Brellier, Neil McCann could have no complaints with his red card on 63 minutes after a reckless lunge on Vladimir Ivic.
Pantelis Kapetanos and Panagiotis Lagos missed good chances for the home side but even though they played with disadvantageous numbers for much of the game, Hearts held on until the 79th minute.
Vassilios Lakis was pulled down by Deividas Cesnauskis inside the area and Baskakov pointed to the spot.
Cesar, who had been a threat all night, smashed the ball into the roof of the net to give the Greek side the lead on the night and all but end Hearts' hopes of qualifying for the group stages.
The Edinburgh side then leaked two further goals inside seven minutes.
First on 82 minutes, Nikolaos Liberopoulos headed home from close range after Nikos Georgeas' whipped cross.
Then with four minutes remaining, Cesar added his second of the night after capitalising on a defensive error to run through and score.