Bruno frank about Heart trouble but so positive

HEARTS midfielder Bruno Aguiar today insisted that nothing is impossible as he targeted twin wins over Aberdeen and Sparta Prague in the next six days.

The Tynecastle star is desperate for a repeat of last season's second-place finish in the SPL and, with the Old Firm clashing at Parkhead today, knows victory over Aberdeen tomorrow would give their hopes a real boost.

The Jambos were held to a 1-1 draw the last time they went to Pittodrie but Aguiar, below right believes they have shown in the games against Motherwell and Alloa, that they have what it takes to put together a winning run.

He believes that can also apply to European competition and says his side are capable of beating the odds to win a place in the UEFA Cup group stages by overturning Sparta's 2-0 first-leg lead.

However, he admits that recent disappointing results have seen the side put through the wringer.

He said: "We want to win both games, to continue in both the UEFA Cup and in the league.

"It has been a difficult time for all of us, the players, the coach, the supporters and everyone connected with the club but, if you always win in football, then everything would be wonderful.

"We have to know how to lose and we also have to learn how to win again after losing to Sparta Prague and to St Mirren.

"We didn't manage to go into the Champions League but now we are in the UEFA Cup and nothing is impossible."

Aguiar missed last week's league win over Motherwell because of injury but was back in the starting line-up, which featured 11 changes, for the midweek CIS Cup win over Alloa.

It has been claimed in some quarters that Aguiar and Paul Hartley are unable to play effectively in the same team together because of their similar styles, however that is something Aguiar is keen to dismiss.

With head coach Valdas Ivanauskas promising to field his strongest side at Pittodrie tomorrow, Aguiar is hoping to renew his partnership in the middle of the park with "Zico" and put on a show that will leave critics eating their words.

Aguiar, who netted an 88th-minute goal against the Wasps on Thursday night to cap his return, added: "People might say that but all they have to do is look at the games from last season because we played several games together.

"We played in the same team and we managed to win a place in the Champions League qualifiers so I think that is good enough."

While Aguiar was delighted to get on the scoresheet against Allan Maitland's side, he insists that he's more concerned with helping grind out the right results for his team than on adding to his goalscoring tally: "I don't set myself targets, I never have, and the most important thing for me is that the team plays well and gets the right result at Pittodrie."

Ivanauskas is expected to start both players against Jimmy Calderwood's rejuvenated men, who have lost just once in the league this season but the Lithuanian will definitely be missing Edgaras Jankauskas, Michal Pospisil, Jose Goncalves and Mirsad Beslija, who is still awaiting a scan on the jaw injury that forced him out of Wednesday night's 4-0 win over Alloa.

He said: "Christos Karipidis trained with us yesterday for the first time since the Alloa game and I think that he was very lucky because at first it looked worse but now he is okay.

"Mirsad is able to train but it is quite dangerous and he will be going for a scan because every header hurts him. We don't know yet if he has broken anything, we will need to wait until he has a scan to find that out. It is a very difficult situation, I hope that it is not broken, but we will just have to wait and see. Playing him would be too big a risk so he is not in the squad.

"We still have Edgaras Jankauskas and Jose Goncalves ruled out, along with Michal Pospisil but, apart from that, we are looking good. We have a lot of strikers in our squad so I would like to think that it will not be a problem for us.

"We have Roman Bednar, Jamie Mole and also Mauricio Pinilla is back, Makela did well against Alloa, so we have the players who can come in to replace them."

Ivanauskas is hoping to have the majority of his squad fit and available again within the next four weeks and he believes that he will have a side to be reckoned with.

He added: "If we have a full squad then we have a very strong, very big team and this is good for us.

"We should have that in the next month, hopefully by then all of my players will be fit again."

Taken from the Scotsman