Hearts face daunting Lisbon task - can they keep tie alive?

[BBC] To say it has been a difficult few months for Hearts would be the understatement of the year. Few will give the Tynecastle club much chance of returning from Lisbon with a positive result from the Europa League qualifying trip to face Benfica and it is easy to understand why. Eight goals conceded in three competitive matches, just one scored at the other end, and even at this early stage of the campaign an injury list that continues to grow. It has been a far from ideal start for Wouter Vrancken. The task does not get any easier on Thursday. Benfica may have lost defender Antonio Silva to Bournemouth, but the Portuguese giants remain packed with quality under vastly-experienced boss Marco Silva. Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin is only 25 but has 29 caps for Ukraine. Greece striker Vangelis Pavlidis scored 22 goals for Benfica last season and alongside him are Heorhiy Sudakov and Jakub Kamimski, who arrived for a combined fee of around £34m, while experienced forward Rafa Silva has returned to the club from Besiktas. For several Hearts players, walking out in front of almost 68,000 supporters at the Estadio da Luz will represent a dramatic step up from anything they experienced last season. Defender MJ Kamson-Kamara spent last term on loan at Glentoran, where average attendances were around 2,750. Striker Amadou Ba-Sy was playing in France's third tier, while Laurent Mendy featured in England's National League. It underlines the scale of the challenge facing Hearts. Realistically, the priority has to be keeping the tie alive before next week's second leg at a sold-out Tynecastle.