Cercle Brugge boss Miron Muslic is expecting a "feast" at the Jan Brydel Stadium on Thursday night for the Conference League clash with Heart of Midlothian.

The Austrian coach spoke very positively about Hearts and Neil Critchley as he revealed he expects a "very different" challenge to the one posed by Kilmarnock when the teams met in the Europa League qualifying rounds.

"Especially since head coach Critchley took over," he said. "I think first of all very well coached, clear patterns, possession-based. A lot of possession for a Scottish team to be fair, a lot of good things on the ball. They feel very comfortable with the ball.

"Kilmarmock was way more physical, way more direct, with long balls picking up the second. I think also this is in the repertoire of Hearts, but still with the capacity and the quality to build up, to prepare the attack, to progress the game from the defence to the midfield, looking then for [Lawrence] Shankland as a clear target player, a clear number nine. I think this guy also scored a lot of goals over the last two seasons for Hearts.

"This is for me a very well-coached team first of all, especially since my colleague Neil took over. Very attractive, very offensive minded and not really comparable with Kilmarnock.

“Still what they do have in common is that it's a Scottish team. They will go fully, they will be intense, they will be physical, they will give it all. And very similar also, we had this experience with Kilmarnock. I think around 3,000 supporters will come here to cheer, to support.

“We had this beautiful experience with Kilmarnock. Then a game like tomorrow night just becomes a feast with a good atmosphere. And this is something we experienced already and we learned our lessons versus Kilmarnock, especially due to the physicality, due to the long balls, due to the set-pieces. This is also a threat of Hearts, but with a lot of solutions with the ball.

“And we define ourselves as an out-of-possession team, structured in our pressing, out of possession, against the ball. So I think if we can do some things right tomorrow, we will have also some opportunities to catch them in this style of play."

Muslic revealed he is "not blinded" by Hearts' league position and believes "100 per cent" that they are a better team than their 11th-place in the Premiership suggests.

"Currently it looks very, very tricky, very similar to us," he said. "I think we have more quality than our Jupiler Pro League position, our position number 14.

“Hearts has for sure more quality than position 11 right now. So this is also something we have in common. It's not easy performing every three days for now almost six months. So it's difficult to find the balance and the rhythm, especially if we, for example, face this as a whole organization for the first time in our history.

“So we are still getting closer to finding the rhythm, to finding the balance, Hearts also. And by the way, this is a team who already took six points in a European group stage. So there will be nothing easy for tomorrow, but we also won't make it easy for them."

Cercle Brugge will be missing a number of players including top scorer Kevin Denkey who is suspended.

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"Kevin Denkey for sure is out, because due to his suspension," Muslic said. "Also, Flavio [Nazinho] faced a hamstring injury versus Standard, so he will not be selectable.

"Kader Ouattara and Bruninho are still out. They will be also out throughout this year, so they will not return in the next couple of weeks. Erik [Nunes] and Emmanuel [Kakou], the players we used to use in the Jupiler Pro League, are not selectable for the Conference League.

“So we're going to miss tomorrow six or seven guys, but we're still going to have a very competitive team and we're going to try to perform as best as possible, of course. 

“Christian [Ravych] did everything since Sunday. He's selectable for us and I will keep it open if I start with Christian or I save him for Sunday."

Denkey is the biggest miss for Cercle Brugge. He is the team's top scorer but was sent off in their previous Conference League fixture. He will also depart in January, joining MLS side Cinncinati.

Muslic understands he can't replace what the striker brings to the team so he will have to come up with "different solutions".

"The solutions are always inside of our frame," he explained. "We cannot replace Kevin one-on-one. It's just simply impossible because you just can't replace a guy who scored 30 goals over the last season. But we have to share this goal threat.

“It's not about replacing Kevin by one, but I think we have some profiles that can step in together. And we need for that two or three guys who can be very, very dangerous. And if they work out fine together, if they can find each other with nice combinations, with some open movements, we can also actually be very dangerous without Kevin.

"It's just a nice moment also for the players to step up and to get a little bit closer. So why not?"

Even with the injuries and suspension to Denkey, Muslic is confident his side can do what they did to Kilmarnock and defeat a second Scottish in Europe this campaign.

"This is also the goal because we are playing this beautiful game, first of all, to win," he said. "We want to enjoy this international adventure. I think we're also in a good position with four points.

“If we can manage to have a good performance tomorrow night and reward ourselves with points, we are in a very comfortable position also in the Conference League. And for that, we need to find our limits tomorrow physically, technically and tactically. And then if this is possible, I think we have all the weapons, the tools and the possibilities to go after Hearts and to play for the three points, knowing that this team is also here to perform.

"I don't think they will let the 3,000 supporters just come here to see nothing. They have the obligation also to go all in, to go fully. And we are also prepared for that. We will also pick up the fight."