Hearts' new season has begun in chaos. A 6-0 Champions League qualifying defeat to Sturm Graz, followed by a late collapse at Aberdeen, has left head coach Wouter Vrancken searching for answers before Benfica arrive at Tynecastle on Thursday.

Vrancken arrived in Edinburgh with a reputation forged in heartbreak. His previous club were denied a historic league title in the final ten minutes of last season — a wound that makes a tough start at Hearts feel especially cruel. He inherited a squad stripped to the studs: the captain, the talismanic striker, and the best midfielder all departed in a summer of heavy turnover, leaving Vrancken to rebuild on the fly.

The early results have been bruising. Sturm Graz, the Austrian champions, dispatched Hearts 6-0 on aggregate in Champions League qualifying — a tie that exposed the gap between where Hearts are and where European football demands they be. Then came the opening weekend of the Scottish Premiership season, where Hearts conceded twice after the 90th minute at Aberdeen to lose a match they had within reach. BBC Sport

Now Benfica are coming. The Portuguese side, who finished third in their domestic league last season, reached this Europa League qualifying round by beating Swiss side St Gallen over two legs. They lost 2-1 in Switzerland before demolishing St Gallen 5-0 at home last Thursday, with four of those goals scored by Greece striker Vangelis Pavlidis. Benfica are no soft touch: last season they beat both Napoli and Real Madrid at home in the Champions League before Real Madrid eliminated them in the knockout stage. BBC Sport

Hearts are not the only Scottish side navigating European qualifiers this month. Rangers face FK Jablonec or FC RFS in a Europa League play-off round, with ties scheduled for August 20 and 27, after navigating past Jagiellonia Bialystok in the previous round. Rangers FC

The new Scottish Premiership campaign kicked off on the first weekend of August, and the opening fixtures delivered. Celtic edged Dundee 1-0. St Johnstone and Kilmarnock served up a seven-goal thriller, with St Johnstone prevailing 4-3. And Motherwell began their season with a 2-1 away win at Hibernian, secured by a superb Ibrahim Said goal at Easter Road. Motherwell FC

Motherwell also have European football to juggle. They were drawn into the third qualifying round of the Europa League alongside Hearts, Rangers, and Hibernian, with all four discovering their possible paths when the draw was made in July. BBC Sport

The calendar congestion is real enough that all five Scottish teams in European competition have opted to postpone their Premiership matches scheduled for Saturday 22 August. BBC Sport

For Hearts fans, the immediate concern is simpler than fixtures and calendars. Thursday night at home to Benfica, live under the lights, is a chance to show that this rebuild — however painful its opening chapters — has a pulse. The team that started the season looking shellshocked needs a performance that gives Tynecastle something to believe in.