Brondby manager Alexander Zorniger has revealed how Hearts helped the Danes prepare for tonight’s Europa League clash at Hibs.
Zorniger brought his players to Edinburgh for a mini pre-season training camp on Monday and Brondby have been working alongside Hibs’ city rivals at their Riccarton base.
The German, however, refused to divulge whether Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson gave him the lowdown on Neil Lennon’s side
Brondby head into the second qualifying round first leg on a high after beating Icelandic outfit Valur 10-1 on aggregate and Zorniger, who took over in May, admits the break in Scottish capital has helped him get to know his players better.
He said: “We trained at Hearts’ training ground. They were practising on Tuesday morning the same time as us.
“I spoke to Robbie Neilson about some things I would speak about to every coach in the world; about tactics, about pressing.
“We didn’t talk about Hibs, and if we did I wouldn’t tell you.
“It was good to have the squad together for a few days because it was our first camp.
“It was important for me to get to know the guys without time pressure. We had a few meetings with the team to prepare them for a whole season.”
Hibs head coach Lennon admits his side are facing a big hurdle in their bid to progress to the next round but Zorniger admits they have to be respectful to the Leith outfit.
He added: “I think you shoulder never underestimate a team that has won the Scottish Cup, we saw the pre-season game against Motherwell on Sunday so we know about the strengths of the team, especially offensively.
“They have a lot of quick players in attack so we need to be wary of that.
“The players that can cause us problems are Jason Cummings, and Darren McGregor in defence. There is also David Gray.
“We’ve been working together for four weeks and with all due respect to our opponents, we will concentrate on our own strengths and the way we want to play against Hibs.”
Brondby captain Johan Larsson insists former Celtic striker Teemu Pukki is the Danish club’s main attacking threat.
He said: “He’s a dangerous attacker. He’s really fast and hard to defend against. I really like him as a player and he’s very important to us.
“Teemu Pukki is my room-mate so we talk a lot about football. We’ve talked about his time in Scotland.
“He has some good memories of playing Hibs. He scored against them twice.
“In general, we think the Scottish teams come with a lot of power and intensity.”
