Struggling Hearts face Minsk in strange European opener

Hearts and Craig Gordon open their Conference League campaign against Dinamo Minsk at the Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium

Uefa Conference League: Dinamo Minsk v Hearts

Date: Thursday, 3 October Venue: Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium, Sumqayit Kick-off: 17:45 BST

Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio Scotland Extra, follow updates on BBC Sport website & app

When Hearts coasted to third place to secure European football last season, they could never have imagined things would look quite like this.

An opening game against the champions of Belarus will be played on the edge of Asia and behind closed doors, on the back of a horrible winless run that cost the man who got them here, Steven Naismith, his job.

Interim manager Liam Fox has been handed the unenviable task of taking a struggling side to Azerbaijan to face Dinamo Minsk, with Hearts in search of their first win of the campaign at the 11th attempt, before making the 3,000-mile return journey to play high-flying Aberdeen on Sunday in the Scottish Premiership.

Nothing about Hearts' start to the season has been enjoyable for their fans, but could the Conference League be their salvation?

The new format has thrown up some winnable games for the Edinburgh club, if they can get their act together. And that starts on Thursday evening.

Why is the game in Azerbaijan?

Uefa decided in March 2022 that Belarusian teams would have to play at a neutral venue with no fans present, due to the country's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Minsk's other European 'home' games this season have been played in northern Hungary, but they need a category four stadium for the league phase.

They played a qualifier in Baku last term, but Hearts will play in the Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium in Sumqayit, 45 minutes north of the Azerbaijani capital.

It has a capacity of 10,000 but will be eerily quiet on Thursday.

Dinamo manager Vadim Skripchenko said the club also chose the venue because they can get a direct flight from Minsk, as Azerbaijan is "friendly" to Belarus.

What to expect from Minsk

Dinamo won the Belarusian Premier League for the first time since 2004 last term, and are on course to defend their title.

They are currently three points behind leaders Neman Grodno but with three games in hand having won four of their past five matches.

That one defeat, to Vitebsk, is their only loss in 20 league matches, with their domestic campaign having started back in March.

However, they have struggled in recent games played outside of Minsk, losing their last four - including 2-1 to Gibraltarian side Lincoln Red Imps in Europa League qualifying, although they still won that tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Defence has been Dinamo's strong point this season. They have only conceded 20 goals in their 34 games, with centre-backs Denis Polyakov and Sergei Politevich both experienced Belarus internationals.

Goalkeeper Fedor Lapoukhov has also recently broken into the national team, as has right-back Vadim Pigas.

On the other side, Brazilian left-back Rai Lopes is relied upon to get forward and fire in dangerous deliveries.

Minsk gave both Bulgarian side Ludogorets and Belgian club Anderlecht, experienced teams at this level, serious problems in qualifiers, losing just 2-1 and 2-0 on aggregate respectively.

Against Anderlecht in particular they passed up several good opportunities to score and had more attempts than their opponents in the 'home' leg, but finishing has been an issue.

Although main striker Steven Alfred provides a strong presence, he only has two goals in 12 appearances this season and Minsk rely more on goals coming from their wingers, who sometimes play as inside forwards.

Winger Ivan Bakhar scored the winner against Ludogorets, and Dmitri Podstrelov and Raymond Adeola are also key figures.

But with Hearts having only scored four goals in 10 games this season, this tie looks set to be low scoring, and tight.