Laszlo sure Hearts can spring shock
Published Date:
08 August 2009
By Ed Hodge and MARK DONALDSON
HEARTS
manager Csaba Laszlo believes the club can cause a surprise against
Dinamo Zagreb and reach the lucrative group phase of the Europa League.
The
Tynecastle side have been paired with the Croatian outfit in the
play-off round for the two-legged tie on 20 and 27 August – the club's
first European voyage in three years.
Hearts avoided Dutch side Heerenveen, Davie Moyes' Everton and German giants Werder Bremen – as well as Litex of Bulgaria – but still face a tough test later this month against famous opponents.
Dinamo,
based in Croatia's capital city Zagreb, have won the Croatian
championship for the last four seasons and the Croatian Cup for the
last three years. Founded in 1945, they are an experienced outfit in
Europe under manager Krunoslav Jurcic and are regulars in the Champions
League qualifiers and Uefa Cup.
They reached the Uefa Cup group stage last term, losing out to Tottenham, among others, in their section.
The
club – then known as Croatia Zagreb – have faced Scottish opposition
before, beating Celtic 3-1 on aggregate in 1998-99 in a European Cup
tie.
Laszlo can take heart from their elimination from the
Champions League this week after a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Red Bull
Salzburg of Austria in the third qualifying round.
While Zagreb's team is predominately Croatian, they can also call on Brazilian and Argentinian players.
But
Laszlo is confident of success and said: "They are a very famous club
but with the right preparation it is a game I believe we can win."
Hearts
managing director Campbell Ogilvie was at the draw in Nyon and is
finalising the arrangements for both ties with his Croatian
counterparts.
Hearts fans are unlikely to face a scramble for away tickets with the Maksimir Stadium boasting a sizeable capacity of 38,923.
Laszlo
added: "It's a better draw to have this than Everton or Werder Bremen.
If you played against them, it would also be interesting but a more
harder opponent.
"But Dinamo Zagreb is from Croatia, a champion
of his country. They also have experience in international football. It
is a huge club, one of the biggest in Croatia.
"But I think if we have good preparation and concentrate about our jobs, we have a good chance to qualify.
"This is football, professional sport and you can't be sure of winning. But you must have the confidence and belief."
Hearts have confirmed the away leg will be first on August 20 with the return at Tynecastle on 27 August.
Meanwhile,
former Hearts captain Robbie Neilson is backing his old team to beat
Dinamo Zagreb because of Laszlo's previous experience of European
football.
Laszlo was in charge of Ferencvaros when they beat
Hearts 1-0 in the Uefa Cup at Murrayfield five years ago, and also
experienced Champions League football with the Hungarian side.
In
contrast, 39 year-old Dinamo Zagreb manager Krunoslav Jurcic has only
been in the job since March and his only experience of European
football is from the recent Champions League qualifiers against Pyunik
Yerevan and Red Bull Salzburg. And Neilson, the last Hearts player to
score a winning goal away from home in Europe against FC Basel in 2004,
believes Laszlo's greater managerial experience will be crucial when
the two sides meet in the Europa League later this month.
"It's
a good draw, probably as good as they could have got, and I really
believe Hearts can qualify," said the Leicester City defender.
"Laszlo's
previous European experience with Ferencvaros will be very important
and could be vital to Hearts' chances of beating Dinamo Zagreb and
going through. He knows all about the different styles of football
played by teams on the Continent and, more importantly, he knows how to
set up his team to play in Europe.
"I don't expect him to
change his tactics for the first leg in Croatia and fully expect that
he'll stick with his normal 4-4-1-1 formation. I'm sure he'll have
Hearts very compact out there and will keep a pretty rigid shape to his
team in a bid to keep the tie alive ahead of the return leg at
Tynecastle.
"That's the formation he used for most of last season and it's also used by a lot of foreign teams.
"It's
vitally important you're tactically set-up in Europe and I'm sure he'll
have the team working well by the time these two games against Zagreb
come around.
"The main plus point for me is that the manager is still at Tynecastle, which is a huge bonus for the football club.
"He did fantastic last season and showed everyone not only how good a boss he is, but also how good he is as a man-manager."
NK DINAMO ZAGREB
FOUNDED: 1945
STADIUM: Maksimir Stadium (Capacity: 38,923)
MANAGER: Krunoslav Jurcic
HONOURS:
Croatian Champions (11); Yugoslav Champions (4); Croatian Cup (10);
Yugoslav Cup (7); Croatian Supercup (3); Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
(1966/67)
KEY MAN: Former Liverpool midfielder Igor Biscan.
FAMOUS
PAST PLAYERS: Robert Prosinecki, Davor Suker, Mark Viduka, Zvonimir
Boban, Mario Stanic, Niko Kranjcar, Eduardo, Ivica Olic, Luka Modric.