Cercle Brugge head coach Miron Muslic is bracing for a challenging encounter when his team faces Kilmarnock in a Europa League qualifier on Thursday.

He acknowledges that both the condition of the artificial Rugby Park pitch and the strength of the opposition will pose significant hurdles.

Kilmarnock secured an impressive fourth-place finish in last season's Scottish Premiership and have lost just twice from their ten home matches this year.

The winner of the upcoming double-header will face either Molde from Norway or Sweden's Silkeborg in the following round.

Meanwhile, the losing team will compete against Tromso from Norway or Finnish outfit, KuPS Kuopio, in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

Read more: 

“They played a very good season, especially in the home games, they’ve been really, really strong, powerful and effective and again using the possibility of the artificial pitch," the Cercle Brugge said.

“So I’m completely aware about Derek and his job and he has done fantastic."

Muslic clearly wasn't enamoured about his team taking to Killie's surface and he was probed further on if it was concern.

“That’s something we cannot control,” he confessed. “I cannot put too much energy into this.

“Of course it’s new and challenging, and also the pitch is in very bad condition. It’s not a new artificial pitch, it’s just an old one.

“But that’s something we cannot control. We can control a strong performance and this is our plan.

“We have one team in our competition, St Truiden, who play on an artificial pitch, so we face them once a year. The last two games we won 1-0 and 2-0 so hopefully this is a good omen.

“But we respect Kilmarnock a lot. This is a team that will give their all, this is a team that will try to make it a real fight.

“I heard the stadium is sold out. I was already outside and had a look and it has a little bit of football romance. It was really nice.

“Even if it’s an old stadium, it has an aura and some nice charisma. So we’re going to not only challenge Kilmarnock, also their fantastic home fans. Everything is prepared for a European feast, and we just want to make sure that we are performing.”

Read more: 

Meanwhile Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes understands the importance of the Scottish Premiership side coming through the first leg without any severe damage to give them the best chance of progressing in Belgium next week.

Cercle have competed in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003-04 season and will no doubt prove a stern test for McInnes' men, who must use their strong home record under McInnes' leadership to their advantage.

"You don’t need to win the home leg but everything’s so much more difficult if you don’t," the 53-year-old explained.

"Certainly losing the home leg makes it so challenging.

"When you play the seeded team, they’re clearly the favourites, they’re trading on a different level from us in terms of the money involved. I still think we’ve got to go and show why we’re in Europe in the first place.

"Our home form was a huge part of that and I think tomorrow gives us the opportunity to demonstrate what we are, what we’re good at.

"It’s important we go to Belgium next Thursday hopefully with a lead but if not, making sure we’re still in the tie."