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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Sport
Mark McDougall

Hearts to pay brilliant Marius Zaliukas tribute ahead of Scottish Cup Final

Hearts players will don the number 26 on their shorts in tribute to former captain Marius Zaliukas.

The Lithuanian defender tragically passed away in October on the day Hearts beat Hibs to reach the cup final with fans heartbroken at the news.

Zaliukas was skipper when Hearts last won the trophy with a 5-1 thumping of Hibs at Hampden in 2012, and now the club will show their love for him on Sunday.

Every player will wear shorts with 26 on them during the game at Hampden as they look to overcome the odds and beat Celtic to win their third Scottish Cup in 14 years.

The club confirmed on Twitter: "This Sunday at Hampden, every player will wear no. 26 on the front of their shorts in memory of Marius."

It's not the only tribute Robbie Neilson's men will be wearing this weekend.

Players well also wear Tiny Changes shirts during the warm-up in tribute to Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison.

Three of the shirts, which bear the name of the charity set up in the lifelong Jambo's memory after he took his own life in 2018, have been signed and will be raffled off ahead of Sunday's game in a bid to raise funds for the organisation.

The kits went on sale to the general public in July 2020, with the Gorgie faithful snapping them up in their droves, contributing over £35,000 to the charity - which works to promote mental health and wellbeing among young people.

Manager Robbie Neilson admitted he was hoping wearing the shirts before the win over Hibs would prove to be a "good omen" as his side look to stun the Scottish Cup holders and net their first trophy since 2012.

He said: “We wore those shirts in the semi-final and that turned out to be a good day, so hopefully wearing them again in the final will be a good omen for us.

“The three strips from the semi-final are on auction so we’re hoping to raise as much money as we can for the Tiny Changes charity.

“We have a new batch which the boys will wear in the final and then they will all get signed and auctioned as well.

“I think it’s really important, especially at this time of year, that we look after people’s mental health and Tiny Changes are doing just that. It's a really big issue.”

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