Mounting troubles at Cercle Brugge ahead of Hearts Conference League tie in Belgium

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The Belgian club are struggling for form

Cercle Brugge suffered a seventh defeat in 15 games on Saturday as they lost 1-0 at Standard Liege in the Jupiler Pro League. Hearts’ European opponents face mounting issues ahead of Thursday’s UEFA Conference League tie between the clubs in Belgium, with injuries, suspension and transfers robbing them of many key players.

Andy Zeqiri’s winning goal for Standard kept Cercle in the relegation zone as they try to compete in three competitions this season. Domestic league, cup and European matches are taking their toll on coach Miron Muslic’s squad. His side sit 14th in the 16-team Belgian top flight and, like Hearts, must prioritise climbing the table.

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Cercle will be without up to seven players for Thursday’s European tie. Portuguese wing-back Nazinho was substituted at half-time against Standard due to a hamstring injury and is a major doubt to face Hearts. Others sidelined are defenders Christian Ravych and Dalangunypole Gomis (both hamstring), midfielder Bruno Goncalves (meniscus), forward Abdul Ouattara (quad muscle), and goalkeeper Warleson (knee). Top goalscorer Kévin Denkey is suspended following a red card in the previous Conference League tie with LASK Linz.

Cercle have already agreed to sell Denkey to the MLS club FC Cincinnati for a club record €16.6m [£13.9m], although he remains in Bruges until next month. They transferred highly-rated centre-back Jesper Daland to Cardiff City in August for a fee of €4.1m [£3.4m]. Consequently, they are without last season’s two best players against Hearts. The Brazilian attacker Felipe Augusto is favourite to take Denkey’s place at centre-forward on Thursday, but Cercle supporters are unhappy with recent form following last season’s fourth-place finish.

The difficulties facing the Belgian side should give the Tynecastle side added confidence that they can achieve a result in the Jan Breydel Stadium against a fellow Conference League Pot 4 team. With three games played in the league phase, both Hearts and Cercle have a strong chance to progress to the next stage of the competition after some encouraging results.

Hearts beat the Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk 2-1 in Azerbaijan and followed up with a 2-0 victory over Omonoia Nicosia of Cyprus. They lost 2-0 to German club Heidenheim at Tynecastle in their previous outing and are currently on six points in the table. Cercle, meanwhile, started the league phase with a convincing 6-2 home win over Swiss side St Gallen. They then lost 3-1 against Vikingur Reykjavik in Iceland before a 0-0 draw at LASK, leaving them with four points.

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Cercle beat Kilmarnock in the Europa League qualifying rounds in July this year before being eliminated by Norwegian club Molde on a 3-1 aggregate. They dropped into the Conference League play-off round and overcame Wisla Krakow of Poland on a 7-5 aggregate to reach the tournament’s league phase.

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