AEK Athens lie in wait for Hearts

The Edinburgh outfit are already 3-0 up after the first leg in Scotland, but AEK will provide a sterner test.

Hearts captain Steven Pressley was in the Rangers side beaten 3-0 by AEK in the 1994 Champions League qualifier.

"Elvis was talking about it and said it was a great experience," defender Christophe Berra said.

"When they went to the ground on the bus, the windows had a shield around it to protect them from the fans.

"All the teams in the draw are big clubs, but, if we play to our capabilities, we can beat them. But, at the moment, we have to concentrate on Dunfermline and the second leg."

There were more big teams in the draw but I am not thinking about the Greek team at the moment
Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas was cautious about discussing the merits of AEK with the second leg of their second round qualifier still to be concluded.

But he said: "The Greek league is quite similar to Scotland where you have the three big teams - Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK Athens.

"But, for me and the players at the moment, we are concentrating on the game against Dunfermline and the result of the return leg against the Bosnian team next week.

"There were more big teams in the draw but I am not thinking about the Greek team at the moment."

The first leg will be at Murrayfield on the 8 or 9 of August with the return on the 22 or 23.

AEK were runners-up last season to champions Olympiakos, who also completed the double by defeating the Athens side in the cup final.

But Fernando Santos has since left to join Benfica, taking midfielder Konstantinos Katsouranis with him.

New coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, previously with Real Betis, persuaded Greece striker Nikolaos Lyberopoulos to extend his contract with Athens, despite interest from Benfica.

And he has also signed Greece midfielder Panagiotis Lago from Iraklis and teenage midfielder Perparim Hetemaj from HJK Helsinki.

Taken from the BBC