Hearts’ Champions League dream fizzled out with a meek 2-0 defeat at home to Sturm Graz in the second leg of their second qualifying round tie.
Trailing 4-0 from the first leg in Austria a week earlier, recently-appointed Jambos boss Vrancken said his team would have to be “almost perfect” if they were to enjoy “a magical, historic night” at Tynecastle.
A bright start gave the home support some hope of a famous fightback, but Graz soon took the sting out of proceedings before eventually closing out a comfortable 6-0 aggregate triumph with two goals midway through the second half.
Hearts, who lost Stephen Kingsley and Alexandros Kyziridis to injuries, will now parachute into the Europa League, where they will face the winner of the tie between Benfica and St Gallen in the third qualifying round, with the Swiss side leading 2-1 from the first leg.
Graz boss Fabio Ingolitsch had predicted the Jambos would make “four or five” changes to the side that started the first leg, but Vrancken opted for just three, with Jordi Altena and captain Kingsley added to the defence and creative spark Sabri Guendouz handed his first start in support of striker Claudio Braga.
Belgian Vrancken would have been heartened by the positive start his side made as they pinned the Austrians back early on and they almost went ahead in the ninth minute when Malachi Fagan-Walcott glanced a header just wide from Kyziridis’ free-kick.
Blair Spittal then saw a shot charged down after Kyziridis flicked a low Calvin Miller delivery back into his path on the edge of the box.
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Hearts had a big let-off in the 16th minute when goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow – playing his last game before returning to Germany to join Mainz – spread himself superbly to deny Szymon Wlodarczyk after Fagan-Walcott’s fluffed clearance had left the forward clean through in the box.
As the hosts’ early pressure subsided, Graz became the more threatening side, carving out a flurry of chances in quick succession.
Seedy Jatta got away from Fagan-Walcott in the box but blasted into the side netting in the 24th minute. Moments later, Schwolow made another big save to thwart Jatta before Jacob Hodl’s effort from the rebound was cleared off the line by Kingsley.
Graz thought they had gone ahead in the 26th minute when Jatta slotted into an empty net but it was eventually ruled out following a VAR check after the forward was deemed to have tripped Harry Milne.
Hearts threatened in the 42nd minute when Miller’s cut-back was somehow scrambled to safety by the visitors.
But the hosts’ lingering hopes of getting back into the tie were extinguished in the 64th minute when Simon Seidl rasped an emphatic angled finish beyond Schwolow and in off the far post after captain Jon Gorenc’s flick-on had fallen to him on the right of the penalty area.
Four minutes later, Emran Soglo got himself free in the box and bundled in at the second attempt after his initial effort was blocked by Schwolow.
