Hearts vs Zurich

Hearts host Zurich for this UEFA Europa League qualification final round second leg clash at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh. Hearts are a Scottish team and the visitors come from Switzerland. The first leg ended 2-1 for Zurich so both teams have a true chance to qualify for the group phase. Whilst Europa League is only the second-highest club competition in Europe I am positive both teams are motivated as millions of euros of prize money from UEFA to the clubs that reach the group stage - as well as bonus money for the players - are at stake here! Playing in group stage is also a great opportunity for players to prove their potential and skills - perhaps leading to a career on to a bigger club.. Moreover, neither team are used to any major success at this level which should increase motivation. I would be very surprised to see Hearts qualify here and would probably need a lot of luck to do so. Zurich were very clearly better in the first leg and were also solid, fully deservedly, favorites on the betting market. Hearts took a quite lucky early lead by L. Shankland’s penalty goal. However, Zurich kept on pushing and putting pressure on Hearts' defense and managed to take the lead already in the 34th minute through A. Guerrero’s and B. Dzemaili’s goals. Zurich had 55% ball possession and created much more in expected goals and should have won 2-0 or perhaps 3-1.. They also recorded much more goal attempts, shots on target (17-5) as well as attacks and dangerous attacks. The home advantage is undoubtedly big as Hearts do have loyal fans but the atmosphere at the stadium will surely not be even close to the amazing atmosphere Rangers’ and Celtic’s fans create in at home games. These two teams, especially Rangers – who, in fact, just qualified for Champions League group phase - are the only good teams by European standards. Hearts are not even close to the same level! In their most recent match Hearts had no chance at all against Celtic away from home and could have lost by a bigger margin than the 2-0. Celtic had close to 70% ball possession and poor Hearts failed to record any shots on target.

Let’s also remember that the Swiss Super League is on average of much better quality than the Scottish Premiership. Zurich are in very good form at the moment and have not lost any of their latest four matches and are solid favorites here. They do not have any clear weaknesses in their game. In their most recent match, they cruised to an easy 4-0 away from home win in Swiss Cup against Cham, a small team. Their chance of taking at least a draw here and bringing my fans and me a winner is 74%. They are much better than Hearts in all areas of the game, but the biggest difference is in offense – more precisely in players’ individual skill level. Hearts do have pretty okay defense but her they will have to take risk as they are trailing, and I believe this will cost them in the end. Zurich can be very deadly on the counterattacks! Zurich played well in the Champions League qualification earlier this summer and only lost to a dangerous team Qarabag after extra time (4-5). Qarabag even got close to qualifying for group phase earlier this week, but Plzen prevailed after two balanced matches. In the previous round of Europa League qualification, the visitors dominated Linfield, a team from Northern Ireland, winning 5-0 on aggregate but could have won by even bigger margin.