Paulo Sergio warns Hearts against risking injured players in Scottish Cup final

Celtic’s bid for a Treble Treble ensures they will take to the Hampden Park pitch bristling with motivation. Hearts’ best approach is to attack, according to the man who masterminded their famous 2012 Scottish Cup victory over Hibs at the same venue.

Sergio also happened to oust Neil Lennon’s Celtic side in the semi-final that year and then refused to risk striker Craig Beattie from the start in the final. Like Ikpeazu, he was nursing a hamstring problem.

Hearts’ top goalscorer Steven Naismith is already out of this year’s final. Ikpeazu’s hamstring, Haring’s groin and Djoum’s Achilles leave them short of match practice and training. Manager Craig Levein may decide to take a chance on one or more, but Sergio is wary of the risk involved.

“You are a key player when you get results. Why are you a key player without results?” queried the Portuguese coach. “I would want to put players in who I know are able to fight for our colours.

“Everybody knows Steven [Naismith] will be out of the final. I don’t believe that training for one week, he will be fit to help the team. I hope he will be here next season but training without adding two or three games before an important match like this will be very difficult for him. Haring and Uche, if they are not fit, maybe it’s better to use the guys who can fight. That’s my opinion.”

Energy and dynamism are critical commodities if Hearts are to spring an upset. “Yes, that is what I believe. If you let Celtic have the ball too much they will give you lots of problems. Every team should aim to have belief and collective organisation,” said Sergio.

“The other team might be good technically but they do not have three legs, so they should not run more than us. The better the opponent, the more you have to press them and make them feel uncomfortable. If you allow Celtic, a team that likes to pass and move the ball, one moment or another they will create a chance and score. It’s a good chance for Hearts to press them higher – try to make them uncomfortable on the ball.”

Sergio only finished a season in charge of Sanat Naft Abadan in Iran a few days ago. Now he is in Edinburgh reminiscing about exploits with Hearts seven years ago this month.

“It is always fantastic to come back. This city makes me feel very well. It is always a pleasure to come and see friends and walk in the streets alone. It is very nostalgic for me.

“In some parts of the day there is lots of reaction from the fans. But I like to walk alone, when the city is very quiet like it was on Sunday night. Being with myself, walking around, I just love this city too much.”

The maroon half of it utterly adores him. After all, he did inspire the best result in their club’s history. He will never tire of talking about it.

“That year, it was like we played two finals. Having Celtic in the semi-final was a huge challenge for us. I told the players that if we get the result we should have a great feeling inside – we should get the cup against Hibs in the final. The semi-final grew our confidence. It was a fantastic feeling.”

If the current Hearts squad can recreate the levels of belief Sergio instilled in his players, they will have a genuine chance of lifting the trophy again.

“There is a huge difference in budget and quality players between Hearts and Celtic,” he said. “But maybe in ten games you can always beat Celtic two or three times. You need to bet on that. You have to create a strategy and work the team to be solid and aggressive, make them believe you can do it. That’s what we did.

“We had a fantastic team spirit. There were so many difficult situations in the season it created a huge togetherness among the players and the technical staff. We were very positive going into the game. They knew what they should do and went on to the pitch believing we can do it.”

• Paulo Sergio was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.