The Edinburgh club's manager harbours the wish that his side will heroically overcome a 4-0 deficit from last Thursday's first leg, but also acknowledges the reality that the Croatian champions are an accomplished team who are highly unlikely to crumble. While dreaming of the former outcome, he will not be too unhappy if his team are eliminated after having claimed a win on the night which will restore their morale after a bruising start to the season.

As Laszlo pointed out yesterday, the opening two weeks of the season were always going to be tough, with the first leg against Dinamo being sandwiched by league games against Dundee United and Rangers. Injuries and suspensions have made that period tougher still, and the abject nature of last week's defeat led the manager to issue a public plea for reinforcements.

Having accepted defeat on that front and agreed to soldier on with the forces at his disposal, Laszlo wants to see a return to some kind of stability tonight in order to set his squad up well for the visit to St Johnstone on Sunday. "We must definitely give something back to the fans," he said after being asked what he hoped or expected his team to do this evening.

"Sometimes you have a miracle, but we must be realistic – Dinamo Zagreb is a very strong team. But maybe they come here and don't take the game very seriously. I don't say, 'You can't lose', but we must be better.

"If we score five goals from the 80th to the 90th minute, I am not unhappy. If we can score goals in the first half, we definitely have hope."

The question, of course, is where those goals will come from David Witteveen's strike on Sunday was the only time Hearts have scored in their last three matches, and that was thanks to an error by Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor. The Austrian has not been impressive since arriving in the summer, while Christian Nade, especially given his greater experience, has been even more of a disappointment.

Calum Elliot is injured, and Laszlo has a substantially lower opinion of Gary Glen than do many regular Hearts-watchers. Glen could get a chance to start tonight, although he faces competition from 18-year-old Gordon Smith, who has been included in the squad.

Smith, a recent signing from Livingston, made two starts and six substitute's appearances for the West Lothian club, scoring a single goal. That is not the kind of record that suggests he is ready to burst into action against Zagreb, and it is even possible that Laszlo hopes Smith's inclusion will provoke Glen into playing at his best.

The loss of Eggert Jonsson because of injury is a blow which Laszlo could have done without, and it is asking a lot of the highly rated right-back Craig Thomson to come in to face the Croatians.

However, the absence of the Icelander is at least offset by the availability of Michael Stewart and Marius Zaliukas, both of whom have been serving domestic suspensions, and of Andy Driver, who is expected to begin tonight on the bench after recovering from a niggling heel injury.

Laryea Kingston is still out, although Laszlo said the Ghanaian was no longer injured. Either Kingston has been judged to be lacking match practice still, or his manager has become so exasperated with him that he has practically discounted him from his squad. Even in the pre-season friendlies the manager opined that Johnny Stewart was now ready to challenge Kingston for a place in midfield, and Stewart should be given a chance to show his worth at some stage this evening. Michael Stewart, Ian Black and Ruben Palazuelos should start in the middle of the park, with Suso Santana and David Obua in wide roles.

Whoever plays for Hearts will be given the minimal target of avoiding humiliation. If that is achieved, a goal or two would be nice, but even a highly competitive narrow loss would be an improvement on what happened seven days ago.

"Not only the result is important," as Laszlo said. "We must save face too. We don't want to go out again like in Zagreb."