Hearts in Baku
Report from Azerbaijan as Hearts take on Dinamo Minsk.
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00:00Welcome to Baku, where the Edinburgh Evening News will cover Hart's opening conference
00:05league tie against Dinamo Minsk on Thursday evening.
00:09As you can see behind me, it's not the normal location for a football game.
00:13You're pretty much on the edge of Europe here, where Eastern Europe meets Western Asia, and
00:18the surroundings and the conditions certainly reflect that.
00:22So far, the weather clearly extremely hot, hostile.
00:25It's one of those trips where Harts are going to have to adjust to the environment very
00:30quickly against Dinamo.
00:31Dinamo are probably more used to these types of settings.
00:34They played a qualifying tie in Armenia earlier this summer, so they'll have a rough idea
00:40of the region.
00:41Harts arrive here on Tuesday, game is Thursday night.
00:46In general, the stadium that they're playing in is in Somgayet, which is generally about
00:52an hour outside Baku, and there won't be any fans there, obviously, it's a game that's
00:57behind closed doors.
00:58UEFA have ordered that this game takes place behind closed doors as a result of Belarus's
01:03involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
01:06Harts are expecting to have a strong squad with them under interim manager Liam Fox.
01:12The first game was on Saturday against Ross County at Tyncastle, ended 1-1, thanks to
01:17a late Laurence Shankland goal.
01:20Harts will hope to try and get their first victory of the season here in the European
01:25competition as they begin the new-look phase of their league phase in the Conference League.