Donis Avdijaj insists horror Hearts spell is behind him as Zurich president backs under fire Franco Foda

Donis Avdijaj insists he's put his horror Hearts spell behind him and is now targeting a win over the Tynecastle team to dump them out of the Europa League.

The former Jambos loan flop bagged a brace in their 3-0 win over Linfield on Thursday night. The Swiss champs led 2-0 from the first leg in Belfast, and got the job done in ruthless fashion back 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 ’s men for the first leg of the playoff round next Thursday. The game is being played 40 miles from Zurich, with their own Letzigrund stadium out of action due to a concert being held there the following night. So Avdijaj will be hoping to hit the right notes against his former club 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. But despite giving himself a big build up, he made just three appearances in maroon and failed to score in a fleeting spell prior to the Jambos being demoted to the Championship.

But Avdijaj insists he’s not looking back. And he he his sights set on victory against Hearts and firing Zurich into the lucrative group stage.

“The Hearts? That is past,” he said. “Now I'm at FC Zurich. We 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 be able to play with these guys. I want to integrate my power here now!

“I like scoring goals, like every player in the world. But I like it even more when the team wins games. When I can combine both, it's