During his club career he played for HNK Rijeka, Deportivo de La Coruña and Olimpija Ljubljana.

First coach that put him in the team was Dragutin Spasojević, who was head of staff when Rijeka won their two National cups in 1978 and 1979.

In 1984, with coach Josip Skoblar, Olympique de Marseille best player of all times, they lost the Championship title in the last match against Red Star Belgrade, later winner of the UEFA Champions League.

Hrstić made his debut in a November 1978 Balkan Cup match against Greece and earned a total of 10 caps, scoring no goals.

He was the first Croatian coach ever in China, where he is called Miluo Xi or 007 (famous movie character James Bond).