Nine players could be banned for the Scottish Cup final if they pick up a yellow card and if the club manage to progress past the newly-crowned Scottish Premier League champions.

Captain Marius Zaliukas, Jordan Morton, Darren Barr, Danny Grainger, Rudi Skacel, Andrew Driver, Suso Santana, David Templeton and Scott Robinson are all in danger of missing the showpiece event.

But the Portuguese manager is making sure his players are fully committed and not considering the prospect of missing the final.

Careful

He said: "If they're going to be careful because of a yellow card, maybe they can't play at 100 per cent and if we don't play at 100 per cent, we're not going to be in the final.

"If I have one or two doing that and we win the game and go to the final, maybe they don't play the final, even if they don't pick up a yellow card.

"I'm not saying I want them to get a yellow card, but every single day when you go to do your job you have to give 100 per cent."

Celtic have won two of the three meetings between the sides this season, with Hearts winning 2-0 in October.

The Hoops then had a 1-0 success at Parkhead before a 4-0 triumph at Tynecastle two months ago.

Neil Lennon's side wrapped up the league title last week with a 6-0 hammering of Kilmarnock and are now targeting a double.

Harder

Sergio realises that his side face an intimidating task: "I believe that defeat Celtic had is going to make our semi-final even harder.

"They already lost one cup and I'm sure they're going to be even more alert so that doesn't happen twice.

"They are favourites. We're going to be the first team to play against them as champions.

"They have had a fantastic season. They deserve this title.

"We know they are favourites. They have a fantastic squad, with a fantastic manager.

"We know it's going to be tough for us, but, like I've said before, maybe if we play 10 times against Celtic we can win one or two - I hope Sunday will be one of those."