Mohamed Salah scored from the penalty spot and provided an assist as Trabzonspor claimed a 2-0 victory over Hearts in the UEFA Conference League.
According to BBC Sport on Thursday, the forward opened the scoring in the first half before setting up Franculino Dju for a superb second goal after the break to secure the Turkish side’s victory.
Hearts, already dealing with injuries to several key players, suffered another setback before kick-off when full-back Harry Milne was ruled out after picking up an injury in training. Attacker Rogers Mato was subsequently deployed at left-back.
Defender Christian Borchgrevink was also forced off with an injury shortly before half-time, further limiting head coach Wouter Vrancken’s options.
The Scottish side entered the match under pressure following a heavy 7-1 defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday and were eager to respond with a stronger performance.
Hearts had an early opportunity to take the lead when Malachi Fagan-Walcott headed against the post from a promising position.
Trabzonspor gradually took control, however, and began to threaten the hosts’ defence. After having two penalty appeals rejected, including one following a close offside call in the build-up, the visitors eventually won a spot-kick.
Salah stepped up and calmly sent the ball down the middle of the goal, beating goalkeeper Beau Reus to put Trabzonspor ahead.
Franculino, who had won the penalty after being brought down by Tomas Magnusson, doubled the visitors’ lead shortly before the hour mark. The forward exchanged a neat one-two with Salah before curling an excellent finish into the far corner.
The goal dealt a major blow to Hearts’ hopes of mounting a comeback and left them still searching for their first victory in the competition.
Josh McPake later fired narrowly wide as the tempo gradually dropped. Trabzonspor also had to finish the match with 10 men after Sidny Lopes Cabral received a second yellow card for a late challenge on Sabah Kerjota.
Despite the defeat, Hearts continued to push forward in search of a breakthrough as they attempted to recover from their damaging loss to Celtic.
Trabzonspor, meanwhile, secured all three points through an efficient display, with Salah’s goal and assist proving decisive.
