Robbie Neilson was proud of his Hearts players for putting FC Zurich under “massive pressure” before Jorge Grant’s second-half red card swung their Europa League play-off back in favour of the Swiss champions.
The Tynecastle boss was hugely encouraged with the way the Jambos dominated their visitors in the first half as they tried to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit at a packed-out Tynecastle.
But Neilson admits Grant’s red card – after picking up a second booking for being deemed to have dived in the opposition box – was the turning point as Zurich went on to score in the 80th minute and progress to the Europa League group stage with a 3-1 aggregate victory. “I’m very proud of the players,” he said. “I thought they were outstanding.
There’s a lot of pride. For the first 60 minutes, I thought we were outstanding. I thought we were the better team. We took on the Swiss champions and put them under massive pressure. “The sending off changes the game and made it very difficult.