Hearts will hit fans who led to Anfield UEFA fine

Hearts were hit with the punishment by UEFA after their supporters ran onto the pitch in the second leg of their Europa League qualifier against Liverpool last month.

An estimated 1500 of the Gorgie side’s supporters travelled south in numbers for match  after seeing the first leg at Tynecastle end in a narrow defeat after an Andy Webster own goal 12 minutes from time condemned them to a 1-0  defeat  despite their strong performance.

When David Templeton scored late in the game at Liverpool’s home ground it sparked wild celebrations and a handful of fans spilled onto the park as it looked like the Edinburgh side would take the tie to extra time.

However Luis Suarez hit home as time ran out to send Liverpool through 2-1 on  aggregate.

A Hearts spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the decision by UEFA following the scenes which greeted the opening goal in the Europa League tie against Liverpool at Anfield.

“The vast majority of the thousands of Hearts supporters who made the journey to Liverpool behaved impeccably, and in fact, drew glowing praise from the Merseyside police authorities for the manner in which they enjoyed the occasion.

“However, we cannot condonefans running onto the pitch during a match, no matter the circumstances. As such, we are dealing with the guilty parties as strongly as we can and that will include handing out indefinite bans for them at Tynecastle Stadium.”

A UEFA statement read: “Heart of Midlothian FC have been fined 5,000 euro by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body for ‘pitch invasion by supporters’ at last month’s UEFA Europa League play-off second-leg match at Anfield Road between Liverpool FC and the Scottish club.”

Dundee United were fined £13,500 by UEFA at the start of the month after a near-riot broke out in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier against Dynamo Moscow. Fans clashed in the Jim McLean Fair Play Stand at Tannadice when Russian supporters climbed up into the upper tier, which housed United fans.