Levein aims to cause shock

UEFA CUP Hearts face tough group

Craig Levein hopes the other sides in Hearts' difficult Uefa Cup group underestimate his team.

But he is excited at being drawn with previous cup winners Feyenoord and Shalke 04, plus Basle and Ferencvaros.

"The other teams might have hoped to get us because we are a Scottish side, and not one of the Old Firm," said the Hearts head coach.

"But I hope they do underestimate us, because Braga underestimated us in the last round."

Hearts will begin their Group A section with a trip to Rotterdam on 16 October to face Feyenoord before welcoming Bundesliga side Schalke to Murrayfield on 4 November, Basle in Switzerland on 25 November and at home to Ferencvaros on 16 December.

"When I first heard the draw, I thought it was difficult," said Levein.

Some of our opponents may think we are the 'diddy' team in the group Hearts head coach Craig Levein

"But, on reflection, maybe it's not as difficult as it could have been, but I'm excited about the quality of our opponents.

"Basle and Ferencvaros are top of the league, Feyenoord are second in their league and I think Schalke are around seventh, so we're talking about some high quality sides.

"But anyone who thinks we are just happy to be in the group stages underestimates what our players are all about.

"But some of our opponents may think we are the 'diddy' team in the group, so we have to send out the signals with a decent performance against Feyenoord in the first game.

"If we can get off to a reasonable start and maybe sneak a point in the first game in Rotterdam then I'll be delighted."

Levein believes the key to qualifying from the section could be their away performances against Feyenoord and Basle.

"We have to treat it as a four-game league, but its difficult to say how many points it will take to qualify through," he added.

"But I believe in positive experiences and we have been strong away from home in our last three European games.

"We've had two clean sheets and a draw in Braga and we've also scored three goals."

Meanwhile, Hearts have been allocated a minimum of 1600 tickets for meeting with Feyenoord in Rotterdam, which could rise to as much as 2500.

The Edinburgh club will also receive 1400 tickets for the game in Basle.