Hearts won’t have title-decider heartbreak on their minds against Celtic, says Wouter Vrancken

Wouter Vrancken says Hearts won’t be thinking about last season’s title decider heartbreak when they return to Parkhead to face Celtic on Sunday.

The Jambos fell at the final hurdle while aiming to make Scottish football history by winning the title for the first time in more than 40 years.

Celtic won 3-1 in dramatic fashion at Parkhead in May, lifting the trophy on a historic final day.

Vrancken wasn’t in the dugout for the Jambos’ best season in recent memory as he succeeded Derek McInnes, who made the switch to Rangers.

But after a 1-1 draw in their Europa Conference League opener against Nordsjaelland on Thursday, the Belgian says his players can’t dwell on the past.

He said: “I’m convinced that the players will be in their heads in the game on Sunday and not in the past. You cannot live in the past. This is sport.

“You have to move forward and you have to look forward, and you have to take on the next one. I’m pretty convinced that, and confident that, it will be like that.”

He added: “I hope the fire is there every game that we play and not only because something happened in the past.

“Like I said, you don’t have to look in the past too much because, otherwise, it’s negative energy.”

Hearts sit five points behind leaders Celtic, who suffered a 4-1 defeat to Benfica on Thursday in the Europa League.