Vlad goes mad

HEARTS owner Vladimir Romanov today insisted none of the AEK stars who helped knock Hearts out of the Champions League are good enough to play for the Tynecastle side.

The Lithuanian banker praised the battling spirit the players showed in the face of adversity in the Olympic Stadium last night after being reduced to nine men with half-an-hour of the match still remaining.

The squad had already been hit by injury and illness ahead of the game with striker Roman Bednar unable to travel because of an ankle injury, Michal Pospisil also ruled out and Calum Elliot relegated to the bench by illness.

However, Romanov was delighted at the players refusal to give up hope without a fight during the 3-0 defeat and said: "Even though our squad was hit by illness and injury we still battled and there was not a Greek player out there on the pitch that I would buy for my team - with the exception of Takis Fyssas obviously!

"I would have stopped my investing in football if Hearts played the way that AEK did.

"I believe we will be back in the Champions League next season if we can show the same spirit that we did last night and just imagine what we can do if we have everyone fit. The team gave a tremendous performance considering the illness and injuries we had and we gave AEK a very hard game."

Romanov was seen deep in conversation in the bowels of the Olympic Stadium with manager Valdas Ivanauskas after the match and the two men were still seething over the decisions to red card both Julien Brellier and Neil McCann.

He added: "Football should be about football, not turned into a show because of the referee."

Ivanauskas himself revealed that Russian referee Yuri Baskakov had come into the Hearts dressing-room to check the players' jewellery but did not point out that there could be a problem with the Frenchman's diamond stud earring. The midfielder was booked when the whistler noticed the stud 25 minutes into the game and was sent off just five minutes later for using his elbow in a challenge with Ivic.

Ivanauskas said: "He checked to see if Julien's fingers were bandaged but he did not say anything about his earring.

"He checked all of the boots and rings and spoke and laughed with Julien then showed him the yellow card. I don't want to see that in referees, it is unbelievable what he was doing because it was such an important game for us. He made sure that the game was over for us."

Ivanauskas admitted that AEK had been the better side over the two legs but insisted that Brellier's red card had been the turning point and added: "AEK were the better side so congratulations to them, they took their chances, but the first sending-off cost us.

"I thought that we played with a lot of heart and had chances of our own from Jamie Mole and Paul Hartley but it wasn't to be."

Taken from the Scotsman