Hearts to face Fiorentina, Basaksehir and RFS and here is everything you need to know

It's not quite where Hearts wanted to be but the Europa Conference League isn't a bad consolation prize, is it?

Robbie Neilson and his team will dust themselves down after their FC Zurich disappointment on Thursday night and their eyes are now firmly on that prize with Basaksehir, Fiorentina and Latvian side Riga in the cross hairs. It's a tough group but it's six fixtures the Jambos' faithful will relish as European group stage football comes back to Tynecastle.

They'll need to be at their very best to keep it competitive with Basaksehir and Fiorentina in particular posing a serious threat. But now the groups are out, the scouting missions can begin, with Neilson, Joe Savage and co. targeting knockout stage football for the first time since 2004. Neilson played in the side that overcame Braga in 2004, which landed the capital club plum ties against Feyenoord, Schalke 04 and Ferencvaros.

Here is everything you need to know about each of their opponents this time around.

Manager: Once named as one of Pele's best 125 players alive, Emre Belozoglu is a big name in Turkish football and only retired from playing in 2019. He's a well-respected coach too with ambitious Basaksehir.

Stadium: Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium, 17,300 capacity

Star Player: All eyes from Hearts fans will be on a certain Mesut Ozil. The former Arsenal and Real Madrid star hasn't featured much since arriving from Fenerbahce but he's slowly returning to fitness and they'll hope to have him firing by the time they face the Jambos.

Interesting fact: Basaksehir only founded in 1990 but have rapidly risen to the top of the Turkish game and won their first league title in 2020. They made their Champions League debut the following season...

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