Two years on from the pain of a 3-0 defeat to Braga Neil Lennon and Charlie Mulgrew are desperate to reach the Champions League.
Since that painful night in Portugal there have been plenty of highs and lows as the team took shape to take the club back to the brink of the biggest stage in the game.
Domestic battles have been won, a 15 point deficit overturned against Ally McCoist’s Allstars, with European away games no longer the graveyard that they once were.
When the SPL title was clinched at Kilmarnock Mulgrew was in inspirational form with the born-again Celt delighted by the progress the club has made since his return from Aberdeen.
“The Helsingborgs performance was a sign of our maturity in that we managed to hang on in there,” the versatile defender stated.
“We’ve been together two years now, the manager is getting his message across to everybody and we respond better. There was a lot of talk about the bad away record at Celtic before.
“We wanted to prove that it wasn’t our record, that it happened before we came here and that it was really just a mental thing. We wanted to improve on that and we have done.
“If we get further in Europe, hopefully, we’ll improve it even more. I think we approach the game like any other, the way we naturally play at Celtic Park, looking to score goals.
“There will be a bit of caution in the back of our minds but we must be positive and approach this game to score. I don’t think it suits us naturally to sit back and defend. The players we have in the squad are forward-thinking guys, so we need to play our natural game.
“We can adapt to circumstances, be a bit more cautious if needed but we really want a typical home performance.
“This could be one of the special nights at Celtic Park and we hope to end it by being in the Champions League draw.
“There’s plenty of work to do to make that happen but it would be massive to be part of the team which gets back to that stage. Absolutely huge.”
No Celt has more Champions League experience than Neil Lennon with the current manager starring in thrilling campaigns under Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan.
Every fan has their own special memories with Lennon able to draw comparisons between wins over Juventus, Lyon, Benfica and Manchester United.
Looking at the challenge facing his young squad tonight Lennon said: “There are plenty here who have the potential to be fantastic Celtic players in their careers.
“They have already laid great foundations to take that step. James Forrest, for example, is as exciting as you get in British football and has the attributes to play at the highest level.
“He’s technically good with both feet, really quick and most of the time has an end product.
“He’s exciting to watch and we have a few, so we are blessed with young talent. I don’t want to build them up and then they fall flat on their faces but we know we have a good team.
“To take them on and enhance and develop them further, Champions League is where you want to play.
“In the last couple of years the fans have seen an exciting young team develop here. Progress is important and the next step is Champions League football.”
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We should go at them from the off, keep them under pressure and play at a high tempo they will be dead on their feet by half time.
They will only have the long ball over the top and if we are properly organized and aware this should prove easy to cope with.
I’d like to see us starting to press up to catch teams offside especially at dead ball situations, add more strings to our bow – make teams think more.
Forget this guff from their manager about IF they score, should they be fortunate enough to score we should be more than capable of scoring 3 or 4. Force them into mistakes, and ram home our quality enjoy the occasion.