Celtic ended the final test of their pre-season training trip to Austria and the Czech Republic with a 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague.
After a way below par performance in the 1-1 draw with Rapid Vienna on Saturday Brendan Rodgers made just two changes to his starting XI for the match against the champions of the Czech Republic.
From the first whistle Celtic were sharp and purposeful as they penned Slavia into their own half.
Mikael Lustig and Tom Rogic had chances in the first 15 minutes to open the scoring with the home side only troubling the hoops in the closing 10 minutes.
Celtic, and Scott Brown in particular, were on the the receiving end of some crude treatment from the home side but as they prepare for the qualifying games in the Champions League that factor won’t do the team any harm.
A knock late in the first half saw Dedryck Boyata replaced by Jonny Hayes at the break as Celtic switched to a 3-4-3 with half a dozen changes made just past the hour mark.
Scott Sinclair should have scored early in the second half but failed to connect with a Leigh Griffiths cut-back but it was the visitors that looked the most likely side to score- enjoying 68% possession from the match.
CELTIC: Â Gordon, Lustig, Simunovic (Sviatchenko 63), Boyata (Hayes 46),Tierney; McGregor (Bitton 79), Brown, Rogic; Forrest, Griffiths (Dembele 63) Sinclair (Armstrong 63)
Not Used: De Vries, Hazard, Doohan, Izaguirre, Mackay-Steven, Henderson, Ralston, McCart, Aitchison, Miller
SCOTT BROWN
The skipper was on top of things from the first whistle and came in for some treatment from the home side.
The referee offered little protection but in typical; fashion Broony raised his game a notch or two and dictated the match from the centre of the park.
Completing 90 minutes confirmed his high levels of fitness, already he looks on top of his game and raring to go for the qualifiers that will go a long way to determining how the season plays out.
TOM ROGIC
A week after being on duty at the Confederations Cup in Russia the midfielder looks back to the form he was showing before injury brought last season to a halt.
He has a built in ability to sniff out half chances around the edge of the penalty box and showed plenty of goal threat tonight.
His quick feet also set up a couple of chances during the game, with some fine tuning the Australian looks capable of surpassing last season’s achievements.
KIERAN TIERNEY
The 20 year old veteran!
During the first half he was forever pushing down the left flank, often racing beyond Scott Sinclair and putting in some useful crosses.
An injury to Dedryck Boyata saw the defence shuffled into a back three with Tierney tucking in well beside Jozo Simunovic and always willing to push the ball out wide for Jonny Hayes to get onto.
He’s fit, ready and raring to get going on another European adventure.