Mikoliunas wants fans back home to forget basketball

Saulius Mikoliunas turned up for his interview session at the cup final press day showing that he has an eye for labels. The lean Lithuanian wore a T-shirt from Comme des Garçons, which is fitting given that the Japanese fashion house has just opened its first British guerilla store in Glasgow.

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The idea is that the store is there for 12 months and then simply shuts down and moves before it becomes passé. Perhaps, that is what Vladimir Romanov is attempting to in football, with his plethora of players who are at Hearts on a year’s loan from his other team, FBK Kaunas.

Mikoliunas, though, would like to remain in Edinburgh much longer. His loan expires this summer but the 22-year-old midfield player feels at home in the Scottish capital, not least because the shopping is better than his native Vilnius.

Today, Mikoliunas pops along the M8. He’s not in Glasgow for Comme des Garçons but for the Tennent’s Scottish Cup final but he would like to put on a stylish display for his friends and family who will be watching the game live on television back home.

“It will be on Lithuanian cable television,” Mikoliunas explained of the channel in which Vladimir Romanov also has an interest. “People are interested in Hearts now because of Vladimir Romanov, Valdas Ivanauskas and the Lithuanian players who are at Hearts. They all support us and they know what we have done is a great achievement because for the last 20 years, it is only Celtic and Rangers who win trophies. Football, though, is not the main sport in Lithuania, it is basketball.”

As if to underline that, Mikoliunas admits that his only previous cup final involvement back home saw only 2,000 turn up at the stadium to watch his employers, Kaunas, defeat Atlantis. “I missed the final because I had a knee injury,” he said.

Mikoliunas has been at Hearts for 15 months. Romanov extended his initial loan spell last summer but the player has no real desire to be a guerilla footballer and begin all over again in a new destination next season.

“I am on loan until the end of the season and then I will talk to Mr Romanov,” Mikoliunas said. “I would love to stay here and play in the Champions League with Hearts next season. I love Edinburgh. It was hard at first because I had never even been out of Lithuania before but now I can speak the language and the people are friendly. Hearts fans come up to me in the street, shouting ‘Miko’, and that is nice. It would not happen in Lithuania.”

However, Mikoliunas — one of four Lithuanians for Ivanauskas to choose from — admits that since his childhood hero took over team affairs from Graham Rix in April, he has flourished. “Since Ivanauskas started, we have played much better football. We beat Celtic, we reached the cup final. Now we can win the cup.

“He would not just pick me because I am Lithuanian. You have to play well and it is what you do in training that counts. But Valdas was one of my heroes. He played in the Bundesliga with SV Hamburg and that inspired other Lithuanian footballers to move abroad. He was my hero but now I just think of him as the coach.

“It was hard when I was not in the team [under Rix and George Burley] but I just told myself that I had to work hard in training and show that I can play. Now I am part of this big occasion for Hearts. I was told the club had big celebrations in 1998 when they won and I hope we experience the same.”

Heart's route

Third round Hearts 2 Kilmarnock 1 Hearts capitalised on their home advantage with Steven Pressley and Jamie McAllister scoring while Colin Nish grabbed an 86th-minute consolation.

Fourth round Hearts 3 Aberdeen 0 Graham Rix saw his team hit three before half-time with goals from Michal Pospisil, Calum Elliot and a Steven Pressley penalty.

Fifth round Hearts 2 Partick Thistle 1 Edgaras Jankauskas and Deividas Cesnauskis gave Hearts a two-goal lead but Mark Roberts ensured a nervy final 15 minutes with his reply for Partick.

Semi-final Hearts 4 Hibernian 0 Hibernian self-destructed at Hampden Park, with Ivan Sproule and Gary Smith being sent off, while Zbigniew Malkowski, the goalkeeper, endured a day to forget. Paul Hartley struck a hat-trick with Edgaras Jankauskas also on the scoresheet.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk