MY HEART IS WITH HEARTS NOW - POSPISIL

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Hearts striker Michal Pospisil is relishing a return to former club Sparta Prague but will have no qualms about dumping them out of the UEFA Cup.

Hearts failed to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League after a 5-1 aggregate defeat to AEK Athens and were paired with Sparta Prague in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Pospisil has aggravated a dead leg which kept him out of the game against the Greeks and will miss the Bank of Scotland Premier League game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

However, the 27-year-old is desperate to be fit for the first leg at Murrayfield on

September 16 and the trip to his home town a fortnight later.

Pospisil said: "It is a special draw for me because I was born in Prague and I joined the club when I was 14.

"I was on loan a few times but played for the first team between 2002 and 2004.

"It will be nice to see some friends back home and to play against a Czech side in a European competition.

"But although it is special that I will be playing back home, my team now is Hearts so I will try to do my best to get them through because I want to get into the group stages of the UEFA Cup."

Sparta Prague have a superior European pedigree to the Tynecastle side but Pospisil insists the Gorgie men have a fighting chance of making it through to the group stages, especially after avoiding Schalke and Fenerbahce in the draw.

He said: "It's going to be difficult. It's the first round of the UEFA Cup and there are not many weak teams there so I rate our chances as 50-50.

"Sparta are the most famous club in the Czech Republic and they have played in the Champions League.

"They have had some very good times but in the last two years they have not been so strong in the Czech league.

"There are now lots of other teams who can win the league so we can beat them.

"Fenerbahce and Schalke would have been more difficult teams for us so we have a better chance to go through.

"But it depends what shape Sparta and ourselves are in by the time we play."

Hearts midfielder Saulius Mikoliunas was also relieved to have avoided the German and Turkish clubs.

He said: "Schalke and Fenerbahce were also in the hat so it wasn't a bad draw getting Sparta.

"But we know Sparta are a good side, they have often played in the group stages of the Champions League.

"But I look forward to it and the experience of the games against AEK and Siroki in the Champions League qualifiers will help us."

Taken from sportinglife.com