Hearts boss Craig Levein has lauded his "remarkable" skipper Christophe Berra ahead of the defender's 200th appearance for the club.

Berra will hit the career milestone for the Jam Tarts when he lines up at the back against Livingston on Friday night.

Levein, who initially brought Berra to Tynecastle 16 years ago, paid tribute to the Scotland international's consistently wholehearted appearances in maroon.

He said: "He's a remarkable man, a great person.

"He will have played 200 games here and there won't be one where he left anything in the changing room. "He gives everything, that's what supporters and I love about him.

"You can rely on him.

"He's reliable, wholehearted and he leads by example.

"He's helped John Souttar enormously, John has come on a tonne in the last year-and-a-half.

"I'm delighted to have him back."

Levein initially brought Berra to Hearts as a teenage prospect in 2002.

The powerful centre-back went on to establish himself in the first-team, before leaving in 2009 to kick off an eight-year stint in the English game with Wolves and then Ipswich.

Now back at Tynecastle, Berra talked of the "great honour" of reaching the appearance landmark in his second spell with the club.

He added: "I'm very proud of that, especially when I was away for eight seasons.

"I've been lucky to stay injury free for my most of my career.

"It's a great honour to represent this club over 200 times."