The Jambos are set to take on Trabzonspor in the Conference League after their crushing 7-1 defeat to Celtic on Sunday.

This was Hearts' heaviest defeat in 13 years, and not the ideal preparation for facing a Trabzonspor side boasting one of the world’s biggest football names.

Kerjota has been eagerly anticipating the chance to go up against Salah since the draw was announced.

The 25-year-old Hearts player has long admired the Egyptian superstar and even reached out to fellow Albanian, Ernest Muci, in hopes of securing Salah’s shirt.

However, with Hearts on the hunt for valuable European points following last week’s 1-1 draw with Nordsjaelland, Kerjota insists that securing a win is the priority.

Kerjota said: "For every player in the world, not just every player at Hearts, Salah is one of the best. He is one of my heroes, and I have watched him to try and learn from him.

"Will there be a fight for his shirt? I have already spoken to their Albanian guy who plays in our national team, so hopefully, we will see.

"But I would rather get the three points, so hopefully he’s going to play a bad game on Thursday."

Salah is certainly in form following his contribution to Trabzonspor’s opening Conference League victory over KuPS Kuopio.

The 34-year-old set up his side’s first goal and scored their second before being substituted after 55 minutes.

In doing so, he joined a rare group of players to score and assist in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.

He then scored Trabzonspor’s second goal in their 2-0 league victory over Besiktas on Monday night.

However, Kerjota believes that Hearts have earned the right to test themselves in such challenging matches after their hard-fought victory over Rapid Vienna in August to reach the league phase.

(Image: Steve Welsh/PA)

Kerjota said: "We’re just going to do our best, and we are going there to play our game. This is why we worked so hard in Vienna, to play in these types of games and against these players.

"We are here now, and we need to play like we are the same as them. So we’ll do our best.

"The atmosphere is going to be very tough, we know that in Turkiye, Trabzonspor, Galatasaray and Besiktas have some of the best stadiums in the world for the supporters.

"But here we play against Rangers and Celtic and when those teams come here to play at Tynecastle it’s the same atmosphere.

"So it will be a good game for us and hopefully we get some points."

Boss Wouter Vrancken has been trying to lift his players’ spirits following the Celtic defeat. Hearts have suffered heavy losses earlier in the season against Sturm Graz and Benfica during the initial weeks of the Belgian’s reign.

They had seemed to steady the ship until the Glasgow defeat, where they conceded goal after goal. Kerjota acknowledges that mistakes will be punished even more severely on the European stage.

He said: "European games are so different from the Scottish Premiership because the teams never drop the ball, they never give the ball away. They have the power to play for 90 minutes and at a high level and we need to learn from this.

"Trabzonspor will be at a similar level because they have good players. Benfica is a little bit better because they have young players and they play at a better level."

Despite Sunday’s defeat, Kerjota assures that Vrancken will not abandon his attacking approach. He added: "I think the coach wants to do the same. He never wants to defend.

"We will try to play our game. When you lead for 80 minutes at your home you want to win, but this is Europe and we need to learn from what happened last week against Nordsjaelland.

"We were good for 80-85 minutes. But we saw again that European teams are different. So it will be a difficult game, for sure.

"But if we play well, like we have shown already this season, I think we can have a good game."