Cercle Brugge boss Miron Muslic admits ‘forgetting completely’ about a former Hearts player he used to work with.
Muslic’s Belgian side are preparing to face the Jambos on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League league phase.
And the Cercle manager was reminded of Peter Haring at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
Haring left Hearts in the summer after six years in Edinburgh having previously played for Austrian outfit SV Ried.
Muslic was assistant manager of SV Ried while Haring was at the club and the midfielder was brought up at the presser.
But Muslic laughed and said that he completely forgot about Haring and joked that he might have to track him down on Instagram to give some inside information about Hearts ahead of the match.
Miron Muslic on ex-Hearts midfielder Peter Haring
Dropping a couple of F-bombs, Muslic said: “Of course, I know him back from Austria. I had him.
“I’ve not spoken to him (about Hearts) not at all because, f*****g hell, the last time I spoke with Peter, it was, I think, six or seven years ago!
“I was there, I think, assistant coach in Ried. We played in the second division in Austria and I was assistant coach.
“And he was also back there, big guy, strong guy, very dangerous in set pieces with a big heart.
“So actually he fit perfectly then to the Scottish competition and to the Hearts. But I forgot completely about him, to be fair.
“F*****g hell, now it’s too late! Maybe I’m going to find him today on Instagram and ask him everything about Hearts.”
Muslic says Hearts not comparable to Kilmarnock
Muslic said Hearts will be a very different team compared to the Kilmarnock side Cercle Brugge beat over two legs in Europa League qualifying in the summer.
But he appeared to contradict himself when saying Hearts, like Kilmarnock, also have the ability to be physical and play long balls forward.
As quoted in the Daily Record, he said: “Actually very different, especially since head coach (Neil) Critchley took over. 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.
“Kilmarnock was way more physical, way more direct, with long balls picking up the second.
“I think also this is in a 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.
“This guy also scored a lot of goals over the last two seasons for Hearts. So 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. 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 guys, 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.”