Marius Zaliukas believes Hearts can do what is required to ease past Paksi in the Europa League following a chat with a former Tynecastle team-mate. The Lithuanian talked with Linas Pilibaitis about tonight's third qualifying round first leg opponents, with his fellow Lithuanian plying his trade with Paksi's rivals Gyori in Hungary. And Pilibaitis has told the defender they should expect few problems in disposing of Paksi, who beat Norwegian side Tromso to set up a meeting with Hearts.
Zaliukas said: "I've spoken to my old Hearts team-mate Linas as he plays here in Hungary for Gyori. He said Paksi aren't the best team in the country but they work hard, fight for every ball until the last second. I was surprised by their result in Tromso because everyone said the Norwegians were better - but that's football. All the players know not to under-estimate this team. We're focused and we don't want to waste last season's achievements. I've heard Paksi say they are inexperienced and it's their first year in Europe but they can use that as a weapon against us."
Two years ago, Zaliukas was part of the Hearts team that lost 4-0 in the first leg to Dinamo Zagreb that they failed to recover from in their last outing in Europe but reckons they're better prepared this time. He went on: "Our first game in Zagreb against Dinamo was terrible. But the pitch, the weather was different - we're two years on now and hopefully we'll learn from our mistakes. Next week we'll also have 12 players because it'll be a full house and our supporters will be a big help to us."