Head coach Wouter Vrancken insists there will be no 'mental fatigue' when Heart of Midlothian face Benfica on Thursday, despite three successive defeats to start their season. His side has travelled to Lisbon for the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie off the back of a 6-0 aggregate defeat by Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying and a 2-1 reverse by Aberdeen in their Scottish Premiership opener.

"It's a challenge, for sure," he said. "It's also an opportunity to show how we can stick together, work together and try to do something with the ball. Because when you're only focused on defending and just kicking balls away, then it's a difficult game. We have to give ourselves some air to try to do something with the ball too.

'I don't think there will be any mental fatigue. Every player wants to play here, wants to play in front of this big crowd. You live for those games when you're a football player.'

Vrancken's team has faced tough challenges so far, but he is confident his players can rise to the occasion against Benfica. 'Playing Benfica is a good opportunity to switch our focus,' he added. 'If we can get a good result it would be a huge achievement, but we have to stay humble, fight together in every moment of the game and stay disciplined.'

Benfica finished third in Portugal's Primeira Liga last season after 11 draws left them behind both Porto and Sporting. The Portuguese giants are ranked 18th in UEFA's club coefficient rankings, 120 places ahead of Heart of Midlothian.

'Playing Benfica is a good opportunity to switch our focus,' added Vrancken, who has no fresh injury concerns. 'If we can get a good result it would be a huge achievement, but we have to stay humble, fight together in every moment of the game and stay disciplined.'

Portuguese forward Claudio Braga will make his first appearance at Benfica's Estadio da Luz and knows exactly where Heart of Midlothian must improve if they are to remain in the tie. 'We need to make fewer mistakes and that's the big difference from the previous games,' he said.

'Of course we know they are a big team and stronger than us on paper. But nothing is impossible in football and we hope we can cause them problems.'

A daunting task then for Belgian Vrancken and his players as they try to avoid a fourth defeat on the spin.