Donis Avdijaj insists he'southward put his horror Hearts spell backside him and is at present targeting a win over the Tynecastle squad to dump them out of the Europa League.

The former Jambos loan flop bagged a brace in their three-0 win over Linfield on Thursday night. The Swiss champs led two-0 from the first leg in Belfast, and got the job done in ruthless fashion dorsum on home turf, with Ivan Santini's late strike ensuring a 5-0 triumph on aggregate over David Healy's side.

They now welcome Robbie Neilson 'due south men for the beginning leg of the playoff round next Th. The game is existence played 40 miles from Zurich, with their own Letzigrund stadium out of activity due to a concert being held in that location the following nighttime. So Avdijaj volition be hoping to hitting the right notes confronting his erstwhile society at St Gallen's Kyburn Park before making his return to Tynecastle a week later. The Kosovan international arrived on loan under Daniel Stendel in January 2020. Just despite giving himself a big build upwards, he fabricated just three appearances in maroon and failed to score in a fleeting spell prior to the Jambos being demoted to the Championship.

Simply Avdijaj insists he'due south non looking back. And he he his sights set on victory against Hearts and firing Zurich into the lucrative group phase.

"The Hearts? That is by," he said. "Now I'm at FC Zurich. Nosotros want to go there and win. The Europa League is our goal I got off to the best start of my career [with Zurich]. After my first week here, I'm extremely convinced of the quality of our team and I'm extremely happy to exist able to play with these guys. I desire to integrate my power here at present!

"I like scoring goals, like every player in the world. Merely I like it even more than when the team wins games. When I can combine both, information technology'due south only a corking feeling. But the tiptop priority is to leave the field as a winner and to inspire the fans."

Despite progressing in Europe, Zurich have endured a torrid start to their Swiss Super League season. Franco Foda's team sit bottom and are notwithstanding to score in their opening three games.

They were hammered four-0 on the opening solar day by Young Boys before a goalless draw at abode to ten-human being Luzern. St Gallen so beat them 2-0 afterwards having a homo sent off, while Sion were comfortable 3-0 winners at Letzigrund last weekend.

Franco Foda

Information technology'southward far from platonic preparation ahead of the showdown with Hearts. Next up is a local derby at Winterthur prior to facing Neilson's men. But society president has backed nether pressure coach Foda, insisting his job is safe.

"The win is very important in every respect," he said after the Linfield game. "The first goal of the flavour has been accomplished.

"We are very satisfied with Franco Foda. Those who criticise him should maybe come up to training and see what work is being done there.

"I cannot understand the discussions about the new manager. He is using a unlike system and a professional footballer has to be able to handle that. The criticism of Franco Foda leaves me cold. Mainly because I see how much piece of work is being done. And also because the team's performance was very good in some games. With fewer mistakes and more luck, we would take more points.

"At the beginning of the flavor, nosotros had a few players who were not in top form, but they are starting to become back to top performance. This win was a good step for us."

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