Hearts eager to steer clear of big guns in UEFA draw

STUART BATHGATE CHIEF SPORTS WRITER

HEARTS fans may be dreaming of a plum tie against Barcelona, but the club themselves are looking for something different when the draw for the second round of the UEFA Cup is made this morning. Having completed the job of disposing of Zeljeznicar in Sarajevo on Wednesday night, the team are eager to gain as much European experience as they can, which means they would rather avoid one of the top sides at present.

"We’re absolutely delighted to be in the hat," said club captain Steven Pressley. "There are some excellent sides in there and it’s going to be exciting. I’m not really looking for anyone in particular, but I’d like to get a draw where we’ve a realistic chance of progressing."

In the final analysis, of course, it all depends on what happens on the pitch over the two legs, but on paper Hearts’ hopes of getting through this stage are slimmer than they were for the first round. Last time they were seeded; this time they are not. As a result, they have a chance of meeting not only the aforementioned Barcelona, but also several other sides who have historically been among the best in Europe.

Before last night’s remaining first-round matches, 21 teams had been seeded for the second round: Barcelona, Valencia, Liverpool, Roma, Parma, Real Mallorca, Bordeaux, Lens, Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle United, Slavia Prague, PAOK Salonika, Rosenberg, Spartak Moscow, Villareal, Dinamo Zagreb, Perugia, Benfica, Wisla Krakow, Sporting Lisbon and Auxerre.

The last three seeds were to be determined after those remaining games, with Feyenoord and Kaiserslautern almost certain additions if they won. Manchester City might also be added, depending on which nationalities qualified last night, as the seeding is determined by the coefficient system.

By the time the draw begins at 11am British time in Nyon, UEFA will not only have finalised the list of 24 seeds, but also divided them and the two dozen non-seeded teams into four pools of 12.

As Hearts cannot be drawn against another unseeded side, that means that the Edinburgh side’s list of potential opponents will have narrowed to six. What is more, those six are likely to come from those countries which are not too distant from Scotland.

A UEFA spokesperson confirmed last night that geographical criteria would be used in determining the composition of the four pools. There can be no hard and fast rule on this, and the spokesperson would not even name those countries more likely to be included in a pool with Hearts, but use of such criteria make it far more likely that the Tynecastle side would be drawn against Newcastle rather than being paired with PAOK Salonika of Greece or Spartak Moscow.

The French teams Lens and Bordeaux, plus Rosenberg of Norway, are the other clubs close enough to suggest they might be in Hearts’ group. After what happened last season, though, when Celtic met Blackburn Rovers at this stage of the tournament, it would come as no surprise if Craig Levein’s side were drawn against an English team.

‘We want to get as far as we can in the UEFA Cup, but I don’t think there’s any diddy teams left’- CRAIG LEVEIN

In common with Pressley, Levein sees no attraction in drawing a big team for the sake of it. The manager is acutely aware of how inexperienced his side are at this level, and he knows that the longer they can survive in the competition the more quickly they will mature as a collective. "We’re desperate to get through to the next round again and progress as far as we can in the competition," Levein said. "We want to get as far as we can, but I don’t think there’s any diddy teams left."

Once the draw is made, all thoughts of Europe will be dispelled for a couple of weeks. The second-round matches will be played on 6 and 27 November, but before that first leg Hearts will play Falkirk in the CIS Cup as well, of course, as resuming their league campaign.

In fact, they could hardly have hoped for a tougher return to domestic competition than they will undergo tomorrow, when they visit Celtic Park. Getting a result in the East End of Glasgow has proved difficult enough for Hearts under normal circumstances, but it will surely be even more so in the aftermath of the euphoria-cum-fatigue which European success induces.

For Pressley, in particular, it will be a big ask, as the central defender has just undergone probably the biggest week of his career, having played in the Scotland team which qualified for the Euro 2004 play-offs last Saturday. His preparation for that match against Lithuania was restricted by a bout of flu, but he is now almost back to normal.

"I’m still blocked up a bit and on Saturday I found it very tough going physically," he explained. "I felt a lot stronger last night, and hopefully come Saturday I will feel better still."

Apart from the two longer-term absentees, Steven Boyack and Gary Wales, Mark de Vries is the manager’s only worry as he prepares for the match against the league leaders. The big striker was complaining of a stiff knee yesterday, but his status as the only Hearts front man to come close to matching the physicality of the Celtic defence means he will start if at all possible.

The Dutchman was the object of racist abuse from a small section of the home crowd in Sarajevo, but both the player and his manager denied hearing any monkey noises

and the referee and the delegate on duty failed to mention it. So, even though the matter has been referred to UEFA’s disciplinary department, the Bosnians are likely to go unpunished.

A spokesperson from the governing body said: "There was no mention in both reports of racist chanting nor have we received any official complaints. Unless the club complain or there are media reports referring to an alleged incident then in that case we would view video replays. TV evidence could be used, but at the moment it’s too early. This is for the disciplinary department to judge."

Taken from the Scotsman