The European decline of Scots clubs

THURSDAY night's 5-0 thrashing of Hearts by Spurs represented the highest margin of defeat on home soil for a Scottish club in Europe.

It narrowly surpassed the 5-1 reverses suffered by Aberdeen against Sigma Olomouc in their UEFA Cup qualifier two years ago and by Gretna in their qualifier against Derry City in 2006, when the now-defunct side were in the First Division.

Rangers conceded more at home in a European Cup semi-final defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960, but scored three in a 6-3 reverse.

Scottish clubs have won just 14 of their last 74 matches in Europe since Rangers reached the UEFA Cup final in 2008. Another miserable week saw Hearts humiliated, Rangers lose and Celtic draw a blank. That followed Rangers' Champions League exit and Dundee United's Europa League defeat earlier this season.

Records since the 2008 final:

Rangers: P21, W1

Celtic: P21, W5

Motherwell: P14, W5

Dundee United: P4, W1

Hibs: P4, W0

Hearts: P4, W1

Aberdeen: P2, W0

Queen of the South: P2, W0

Falkirk: P2, W1.

SIX OF THE WORST

Other humiliations visited upon Scottish clubs in Europe include:

Standard Liege 5 Hearts 1

Hearts' first-ever game in Europe turned into a horror show. Striker Bonga-Bonga from the Belgian Congo ran amok against the Scottish champions in this 1958-59 European Cup tie.

Roma 6 Hibs 0

Hibs had drawn 2-2 at Easter Road and 3-3 in the return leg of the 1960-61 Fairs Cup semi-final. In the days before away goals, the deciding game was played in Rome and Hibs were demolished.

FC Cologne 5 Rangers 0

Rangers led 2-1 from the first leg of this UEFA Cup second round tie in 1982 but completely collapsed in the return, and were 4-0 down after 21 minutes to a Pierre Littbarski-inspired side.

Dundee United 0 Vitesse Arnhem 4

Woeful United returned from the Netherlands with a respectable 1-0 defeat, only to be thumped by the Dutch side at Tannadice in the 1990-91 UEFA Cup.

Neuchatel Xamax 5 Celtic 1

Liam Brady's Celtic were humiliated by the Swiss minnows, with Egyptian striker Hossam Hassan netting four goals in a 1991-92 UEFA Cup tie.

Artmedia Bratislava 5 Celtic 0

Gordon Strachan's first competitive game as Celtic manager ended in disaster as they were completely overwhelmed by the Slovakians in a 2005-06 Champions League qualifier. A 4-0 win in the return was not enough for Celtic.

RANGERS' BAD RUN

RANGERS are on a run of just one win in 24 European games after their latest setback in Slovenia.

They reached the UEFA Cup final in 2008 and the last 16 of the Europa League last season. But that masked a terrible run of just one win - against Turks, Bursaspor last season - in their last 24 games home and away since winning 2-0 at Sporting Lisbon in the 2008 UEFA Cup quarter-final.