Andy Halliday insists Celtic are 'perfect' Scottish Cup opponents as he sets out confident Hearts stall

Andy Halliday reckons Celtic are the ideal opponents for Hearts to be facing in the Scottish Cup - as they'll need to beat them at some point to win the trophy.

The midfielder's memories of the competition aren't great with three final defeats to his name, but manager Robbie Neilson's Tynecastle ambition is to win trophies, and they can take a big step towards one on Saturday. But it will be a difficult ask against Ange Postecoglou's relentless champions, who beat them 3-1 on Premiership duty at Parkhead on Wednesday.

Saturday's clash takes place at Tynecastle and Halliday tells the BBC you need to beat the elite to eventually make it to glory. He explained: "We have improved in terms of our squad. From our perspective, we will strive to get better every year and I think we have done that since I came to the club. But the most important thing to doing that is finishing as high in the league as possible.

"It's a cup I'd love to win before my career ends but you can look at this two ways. For me, Celtic are heavy favourites to go and win it this year so for me it's a perfect draw for us at the quarter-finals.

"You have a better chance of beating them at Celtic Park or Hampden so for me it was the perfect draw. We have set out ambitions to try and win a cup.

"We have been in the final the last couple of years. If you want to win it there's a good chance you'll need to beat Celtic or Rangers, so I think the draw has come at a good time for us."

"It will be two very good teams attacking from the get go. It will be played at a frantic pace like it was the last one (at Tynecastle)."

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