Hearts were put through a difficult night in Europe on Thursday night, losing 6-1 at Benfica.
The European giants were a class above the Jambos, who to their credit put in a spirited second-half performance, but conceded three in each half with Tom Renaud pulling one back.
Head Coach Wouter Vrancken made two changes from the side that lost to Aberdeen last weekend.
The hosts fired an early warning with Georgiy Sudakov curling a low shot on target only two minutes in, but Beau Reus got down to push the ball away.
That warning was not heeded as less than a minute later, Benfica took the lead. Rafa Silva got on the end of a passing move into the Hearts box to sweep home into the back of the net.
Claudio Braga then headed wide from a Calvin Miller cross before Reus was called into action again, making a smart stop with his legs to deny Leandro Barrreiro.
Gianluca Prestianni waltzed through the backline on 11 minutes to get inside the box but his shot was beaten away by Reus.
Reus was alert to push Barreiro’s powerful header over the bar on 22 minutes, but moments later would come undone courtesy of another header, with Araujo bulleting home from a corner to make it 2-0.
The woodwork denied Hearts a foothold back into the game just after the half hour mark. Blair Spittal’s free kick was met by Laurent Mendy, but his header came crashing back off the crossbar.
With five minutes of the half remaining, Benfica were awarded a penalty after Mendy was judged to have hauled down Pavlidis inside the box, and he dusted himself down to slam the ball beyond Reus from the spot.
The hosts had the ball in the net again before the half was out, but this time the offside flag came to the Jambos’ rescue.
Seven minutes into the restart, substitute Jamie McCart popped up on the line to deny Pavilidis, after he had broken through and slotted beyond Reus, although it was pulled back for offside.
It was 4-0 just before the hour mark. Prestianni cut out a loose pass before moving inside and arrowing a right-foot effort into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Reus got down to make another good save on 67 minutes, this time denying substitute John Duran, who had curled a low effort on target from 18-yards.
There was a moment to cheer after 72 minutes when substitute Renaud latched on to possession before expertly sending a low drive into Soares’ bottom right corner to pull one back.
Moment slater, Blair Spittal sent a set piece inches over the bar as the Jambos searched for a way back into the game.
Renaud wasn’t far away again, with ten minutes remaining, meeting a clearance with a wicked half-volley from distance that flew just over the bar.
A difficult night become even more difficult with four minutes to go when the hosts carved the Jambos’ defence open and John Duran sidefooted home from inside the box.
A stoppage time penalty was converted by Andreas Schjelderup to give Benfica a convincing 6-1 victory.
Benfica: Soares, Lenglet (Silva, 72’), Barrenecha, Bah, Sudakov (Schjelderup, 64’), Pavlidis (Duran, 45’), Barreiro, Prestianni, Dahl, Silva, Araujo ©.
Subs: Trubin, Lukebakio, Kaminski, Silva, Dedic, Rios, Indio, Neto, Cabral, Figueiredo.
Hearts: Reus, McEntee, Miller (McPake, 73’), Braga, Kabore (Geundouz, 64’), Spittal, Findlay, Milne (McCart, 46’), Altena, Mendy (Renaud, 46’), Kyziridis (Kerjota, 86’).
Subs: Clark, Fulton,, Wilson, Magnusson, Kamson-Kamara, Gillies, Ba-Sy.
