‘I hope’ - Motherwell star wants Hearts to succeed in Europe ahead of this weekend’s Premiership clash
Hearts take on Viktoria Plzen in Europe before returning to domestic duties against Motherwell
Motherwell defender Stephen O’Donnell admits that he will be backing Hearts all the way in their Europa League qualifier tonight - but insists The Steelmen will be aiming to batter them on their return to Scotland.
The Jambos are in Czechia tonight to take on a Viktoria Plzen side, who like Hearts finished third in the league last season.
Hearts have not played in the group stage of the Europa League in 20 years and will hope to produce a season best performance in Central Europe after suffering a shock defeat to Falkirk in the Premier Sports League Cup.
The Jambos are also still chasing their first victory in the Premiership this season. They claimed a 0-0 draw at home to Rangers on the opening day but suffered a demoralising 3-1 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park in their last league match.
O’Donnell’s Motherwell are on a high after reaching the quarter-finals of the League Cup on Sunday with a 1-0 win over 10-man Kilmarnock in extra-time. But like Hearts are only on one point after their opening two games.
Motherwell will hope to claim any advantage they can heading into the match and O’Donnell is hoping that the Jambos midweek exertions can work in his side’s favour.
The 32-year-old told the Daily Record: “Any advantage you can get, you will take so them having a midweek game could help. But Hearts, like Kilmarnock, have a different budget to us so maybe it becomes a level playing field with them playing on Thursday.
“Hearts are a very good side, Steven Naismith has done a good job there. They didn’t have a great result in the cup last week but as I said last week when I was doing some punditry and Kilmarnock did well, we want the Scottish teams to do well in Europe for the nation as a whole.
“So I’m hoping Hearts have a great result on Thursday – but I hope they get battered on Sunday.”
The 26-time Scottish international adds that he is expecting a tough game against Hearts regardless of the result in midweek and believes they will be out to prove a point after their early League Cup exit.
Relating it back to his own experiences last season, he added: If you have a bad result, you just have to get onto the next game. We had it last season when we lost to Morton in the cup, then we went to Aberdeen and put in a good performance before drawing the game.
“It is all about reactions at this level and I’m sure Hearts will make it a tough game, regardless of how they do in midweek.”