Craig Gordon expressed confidence in Heart of Midlothian's ability to compete in the Europa League, provided they can turn around a 1-0 deficit against Viktoria Plzen in the second leg of their play-off tie this Thursday.
The Jambos are aiming to qualify for the group stage of Europe’s secondary tournament for the first time since its rebranding in 2009.
To achieve this, they must overcome their Czech rivals at Tynecastle Park after a narrow first-leg loss.
High-profile teams like Manchester United, Tottenham, Lazio, Roma, and Athletic Bilbao are among the clubs already set to participate in the Europa League.
At 41, Gordon recalls the early days of his career when he played for Hearts against notable teams such as Feyenoord, Ferencvaros, Basel, and Schalke in the UEFA Cup group stage two decades ago.
He is eager to return to that level of competition with his boyhood club.
Should Hearts fail to put Plzen to the sword, they would drop into the group stage of the UEFA Conference League, a competition many believe might suit them better, especially after a challenging start to the Scottish Premiership season. However, Gordon remains hopeful for a spot in the Europa League.
“It would be huge for everyone, for every single player, to get to that level and test yourself with some of the best European teams,” said the Jam Tarts veteran.
“The standard across all the European competitions is so high. You just have to look at some of the names in the Europa League this season, there are some huge ties and matches to be played and test yourself against.
"It will be huge. We are desperate to be a part of that and play in as big a competition as we possibly can.”
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Rating Hearts' chances of being competitive in whatever European competition they end up in, the former Scotland shot-stopper said: “I think we have a big enough squad and the ability to defend well, like we did over in Plzen when we defended well for the majority of the game.
"We put in a very good away performance and felt a bit unlucky to lose the game. But it shows what we are capable of and we carried a threat as well. We could have scored and – on another night – could have won the game.
"We know if we can get things right even against bigger clubs, we can still win matches.
“It does not matter what competition it is, I think we can be confident of doing well, but we want to be in the biggest competition we possibly can.”
