Onuachu to miss Trabzonspor’s Europa Conference League tie with Hearts

Paul Onuachu will not be available for Trabzonspor’s UEFA Europa Conference League meeting with Heart of Midlothian, head coach Thomas Reis has confirmed.

The Turkish Super Lig side welcome Hearts to Papara Park on Thursday night for their third match of the Conference League campaign.

Onuachu sustained an injury during Trabzonspor’s 4-2 victory over Finnish club KuPS last Thursday. The Nigeria striker gave the hosts an early lead in the third minute, but was unable to continue and was substituted seven minutes later.

Reis said the fixture with Hearts had come too soon for Onuachu, while indicating that the forward could be considered for Trabzonspor’s next domestic match against Rizespor.

“Tomorrow will be a bit early for Mustafa, early for his return tomorrow. For Onuachu, we could say maybe the Rizespor match,” Reis told reporters at a news conference.

The coach also said Trabzonspor use separate player lists for their European and Turkish league campaigns. He added that the starting line-up for the Hearts game would be finalised after the team’s last training session.

“Our player lists for Europe and the league are different. We’ll do the last training session shortly, and we’ll decide on the starting 11,” he said.