ALL ROADS lead to Athens. That is the dream for Europe’s most ambitious clubs and now for Heart of Midlothian too, after the draw yesterday for the third qualifying round of the Champions League gave them a glimpse of the same stage that will host the 2007 final.

The Bank of Scotland Premierleague runners-up could be walking out at the Olympic Stadium against AEK Athens next month if they confirm their second-round passage against NK Siroki Brijeg next Wednesday. Valdas Ivanauskas’s side secured a 3-0 lead from this week’s first leg at Murrayfield and can complete the task when they travel to Bosnia for the second leg.

The prize will be en encounter with AEK, who no longer have a ground of their own after demolishing the rundown Nikos Goumas Stadium and have to use the Olympic Stadium. The Champions League final will he held at the 75,000-capacity arena next May but the Greek capital could also now become the gateway for Hearts to enter the elite of European football.

The Edinburgh club avoided the heavyhitters among the 16 seeds in yesterday’s draw at Uefa headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and only AEK stand between Hearts and a potential payday of £8 million if they go to the group stage. If Hearts dismiss Siroki, they would meet AEK at Murrayfield — backed, perhaps, by 40,000 fans — on either August 8 or 9 before the return leg in Athens a fortnight later.

AEK, like Hearts, finished second last season in their title race, behind omnipotent Olympiakos. They have a new manager in Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, a Spaniard who was in charge of Real Betis, but will be heading to Scotland intent on a third triumph after knocking out Hibernian of the Uefa Cup in 2001 and Rangers of the Champions League in 1994.

Ironically, Steven Pressley, the Hearts captain, was a member of that Rangers team and has warned his colleagues to expect an intimidating environment. “Steven was talking about it after training,” Christophe Berra, the Hearts defender, said yesterday. “He played there with Rangers and said it was a great experience. When they went to the ground on the bus, the windows had a shield to protect them from the fans. All the teams in the draw are big clubs, but, if we play to our capabilities, we can beat them but, for now, we have to concentrate on the second leg.”

Ivanauskas was equally reticent to look ahead. “The Greek league is quite similar to Scotland where you have the three big teams — Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK,” the head coach said. “We were out training this morning and afterwards we heard we got the Greek team.

“That is just the draw but, for me and the players, we are concentrating on the game against Dunfermline and the result of the return leg against the Bosnian team next week. There were more big teams in the draw but I am not thinking about the Greek team now.”

Hearts, though, will be able to rely on the local knowledge of one of their own key players. Takis Fyssas, the left-back, knows six of the AEK side well because they were his colleagues as Greece won the 2004 European Championships, before moving from Benfica to Tynecastle.

“I would expect the coach will be consulting Takis to get as much information as he can,” Craig Levein, the former Hearts manager, said yesterday. “He has not played in Greece for a while but I am sure he will have his finger on the pulse and will know most of the players and the way the team plays. It is a tough draw but you look at AC Milan, Liverpool and Arsenal and, trust me, AEK does not strike the same fear.”

Also in the draw, Arsenal will play FK Ekranas or Dynamo Zagreb, while Liverpool will play Maccabi Haifa, amid fears about flying to Israel.

The other Scottish side to be given a European assignment yesterday were Gretna, who will face Derry City in the second qualifying round of the Uefa Cup. Rowan Alexander’s side qualified when they were still in the Bell’s Scottish League second division after reaching the Tennent’s Scottish Cup final, because Hearts — whom they lost to on penalties — were already earmarked for the Champions League.

However, Gretna’s first trip into Europe will not even require them to take to the air. The tiny Borders club will only require a road trip along the A75 to Stranraer before taking a ferry to Ireland.

Gretna will be at “home” for the first leg but Derry, who eliminated IFK Gothenburg of Sweden in the last round, will have to head to Motherwell’s Fir Park on August 10 because Raydale Park does not meet Uefa stadia requirements.

Also in the draw, Newcastle United will play FK Ventspils.

• Hearts yesterday completed the signing of Mauricio Pinilla on a season’s loan from Sporting Lisbon. The 22-year-old Chile striker previously played for Inter Milan.