Hearts trail 6-1 to Benfica after a first-leg defeat in Lisbon on 6 August that left head coach Wouter Vrancken lamenting a first-half collapse. (BBC Sport)

The Scottish side had already dropped out of the Champions League qualifying rounds — beaten 4-0 by Austrian side Sturm Graz in the first leg and 2-0 at home in the second — and dropped into the Europa League play-offs, the round below the group stage of Europe's second-tier competition. There they drew Benfica, one of Portugal's most decorated clubs, with the first leg scheduled in Lisbon. (Hearts FC)

A 6-1 deficit is close to insurmountable. No Scottish side has ever overturned a five-goal first-leg deficit in European competition. Hearts need to win the return at Tynecastle by five clear goals to advance — a mountain in any context, steeper still against a side of Benfica's calibre.

Vrancken was blunt about what went wrong, pointing to a first half in which the game slipped away from his side before the interval. The BBC reports that the Belgian coach felt the scoreline did not fully reflect a side that competed in stretches — but that the spells of collapse were too costly to ignore. (BBC Sport)

What makes the night strange is that some Hearts supporters found reasons for encouragement amid the wreckage. The same BBC report notes that pockets of the away support saw enough — stretches of composed possession, a willingness to attack — to believe the tie is a harsher lesson than a terminal one. (BBC Sport)

The wider context for Scottish clubs in Europe this August is mixed. Celtic were drawn against Austrian champions LASK in the Champions League play-off round — the last hurdle before the 36-team league phase. (BBC Sport) Rangers, seeded in the Europa League third qualifying round, face Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok, with the first leg of their play-off scheduled for 20 August at Ibrox. (BBC Sport) Hearts, should they overturn the Benfica deficit, would also be at home for the first leg of their play-off. (BBC Sport)

There was one bright spot for the Edinburgh club this week. Hearts Women won their first-ever European match on their continental debut, coming from behind to beat Lithuanian side FC Gintra 2-1 — a milestone for a women's programme that continues to grow. (Hearts FC

For the men's side, the second leg at Tynecastle is about pride now. Overturning Benfica is the stuff of football fantasy, not reasonable expectation. But protecting the club's reputation, giving the home support something to hold, and showing that the first-half collapse in Lisbon was an aberration rather than a pattern — those are the stakes that remain.