Hearts boss Vrancken laments ‘stupid penalties’ in heavy Europa League defeat to Benfica

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken was left to regret the “two stupid penalties” his side gave away in their 6-1 defeat to Benfica in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

The Scottish Premiership side were 3-0 down before the break, and though their hopes of a late comeback increased at 4-1, late goals from Jhon Duran and Andreas Schjelderup took the game away from Hearts.

Schjelderup scored a penalty in stoppage time, while Vangelis Pavlidis also netted from the spot in the first half as Hearts’ poor start to the season continued.

They have lost all four competitive games in 2026-27, and it was a deserved result against Benfica, who produced 3.65 expected goals (xG) to Hearts’ 1.2.

“We were just kicking the ball away and the ball was coming back at us just as fast. That was also not the plan,” Vrancken told BBC Sport Scotland.

“There were a few moments when we played, we felt we had a little bit of air.

“Second half was much better and then we saw Benfica also left spaces and we could play football. The goal was nice – that the players felt more and more confident.

“We wanted to go for 4-2 or 4-3, but when you are too open in these moments, they kill you. And it was sad that we give away two stupid penalties away. You can’t do that here.”

— Heart of Midlothian FC (@JamTarts) August 6, 2026

Benfica have now scored 12 goals across three qualifying matches after defeating St. Gallen 6-2 on aggregate in the previous round, but head coach Marco Silva has urged his side to avoid any complacency.

“As a coach, I have to be realistic. We have a very good advantage, but complacency can’t exist in football, at a club of our size, and it certainly won’t,” said the former Fulham boss.

“We’re going to get into a rhythm of games. The result was important, to start taking players off, because some will play on Sunday and space is limited. Goals, performance, allowed us to manage that.”

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