Mohamed Salah won just about everything there is to win in England, and on Thursday he showed a Scottish side why. He scored a calm first-half penalty and set up the second goal as Trabzonspor beat an injury-hit Hearts 2-0 in the Conference League.
Hearts start brightly, then fade
It is worth saying that Hearts did not roll over. Wouter Vrancken's squad was a patchwork, with six players injured and only one midfielder left to pick. Left-back Harry Milne was lost in training the day before, so forward Rogers Mato lined up in the position, which meant that Mato was marking Salah. It was an eye-catching bit of selection, and for much of the first half it worked. Mato kept the Egyptian quiet and Hearts should have scored first, when Malachi Fagan-Walcott hit the post with a free header.
Defender Christian Borchgrevink then had to go off injured on the stroke of half-time, which made life harder still.
Salah's penalty, Franculino's finish
Trabzonspor grew into the game. After two early penalty claims were turned down, the first because of a tight offside in the build-up, Salah stepped up and slotted his spot-kick down the middle of Beau Reus's goal. The penalty came when Franculino Dju was felled by Tomas Magnusson.
The second goal came just before the hour. Franculino and Salah played a well-timed one-two and the striker curled a fine shot into the far corner. That ended any faint hope of a Hearts comeback. Josh McPake flashed wide late on, and the home side finished with ten men when Sidny Lopes Cabral picked up a second yellow card for a late challenge on Sabah Kerjota.
What it means
For Salah, who left Liverpool and joined Trabzonspor as a free agent, it was a relatively quiet 71 minutes by his standards, yet the penalty and the assist were enough to earn him the BBC readers' player of the match award with an average rating of 8.30. Trabzonspor have now won back-to-back Conference League games and sit three points off Galatasaray in the Turkish league.
Hearts remain winless in the competition. Vrancken said he was proud of a team performance against so much individual quality, and that Mato's job on Salah showed the confidence he had in his players. It also followed a 7-1 league defeat by Celtic on Sunday, so the response was something to take from a long week.
Match facts: Trabzonspor 2-0 Heart of Midlothian, UEFA Conference League league phase, Thursday 22 October 2026. Goals: Mohamed Salah (Trabzonspor, penalty, first half), Franculino Dju (Trabzonspor, curled finish just before the hour, assisted by Salah). Red card: Sidny Lopes Cabral (Trabzonspor, second yellow, late on). Hearts are winless in the competition.
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