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Europa & Conference League: Celtic heavily beaten at Benfica; Nordsjaelland deny Hearts win late on
FT: Benfica 4-1 Celtic
SNS

Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken tells BBC Scotland: "Not so much frustration, more disappointment because of the late goal. And also because we couldn't show anything more in the last 20 minutes.

"I expected a bit more energy there, when you make substitutions. We lost energy instead of gaining it, and that's not what we need.

"It had to be 2-0 or 3-0 at half-time. Even in the second half, we had moments we have to exploit and do better. Then you kill the game, and you're confident and comfortable.

"As long as the second goal isn't there, you know you're taking more of a risk and there's an all-or-nothing feeling. Then we have to put energy against this, because there's spaces to exploit for us."

Wouter Vrancken
SNS

Ryan Stevenson
Former Hearts forward on BBC Sportsound

The job that McEntee, McCart, Fagan-Walcott and Mendy are doing - hustling about, winning their headers, being aggressive.

It allows the forward players to get on the ball and express themselves.

Nordsjaelland come forward immediately. Alexander Lind is one-on-one now, but Beau Reus makes a brilliant stop.

Ibrahim Adel then lunges into the rebound and catches Jamie McCart. It's a yellow card, but the replay looks bad.

Could this be red for the Egyptian? Nope. Play on.

Oisin McEntee's goal splits the side after a frantic opening 45 minutes.

Hearts might be disappointed not to be further ahead, while Nordsjaelland were just inches away from going in front thanks to Prince Amoako Jr's effort.

Instead, it was McEntee who got the opener, sliding in to connect to a Jamie McCart knockdown.

And were it not for Andreas Hansen, the Nordsjaelland keeper, Hearts would be 2-0 up after that flurry at the end of the half.

Oisin McEntee stretches to put Hearts in front
Image caption, Oisin McEntee stretches to put Hearts in front

Kasper Hogh, in desperate need of a goal, bursts into the Benfica box and gets his shot on target, but it's well saved by home goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.

Moments later, Mika Baur stings the palms of Trubin from range.

Good response from Celtic.

Hearts: Reus, Borchgrevink, Fagan-Walcott, McCart, Milne, McEntee, Mendy, Miller, Braga, McPake, Wilson.

Substitutes: Clark, Fulton, Kingsley, Williams, Kabore, Findlay, Guendouz, Altena, Kerjota, Pollock, Gillies, Mato.

Nordsjaelland: Hansen, Nelsson, Salquist, Markmann, Norheim, Janssen, Brink, Lahteenmaki, Adel, Lind, Amoako.

Substitutes: Busk, Eriksson, Ankersen, Rojkjaer, Solbakken, Acquah, Heyde, Walker, Berthelsen, Sadio, Boe, Faber.

Benfica: Trubin, Dahl, Lenglet, Araujo, Bah, Palhinha, Aursnes, Prestianni, Sudakov, Lukebakio, Duran.

Substitutes: Circati, Pavlidis, Silva, Barreiro, Schjelderup, Soares, Rafa, Echeverri, Indio, El Karouani, Cabral, Freitas.

Celtic: Sinisalo, Donovan, Murray, Trusty, Tierney, McGregor, Baur, Sorensen, Tournekti, Duran, Hogh.

Substitutes: Johnstone, Lotomba, Scales, Nygren, McCowan, Osmand, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hassan, Forrest, Ralston, Kennedy, Clearie.

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