There’s something a little unfulfilled about playing the first leg of the Champions League Play Off at Celtic Park.
The stadium lends itself to drama although the feeling of getting knocked out by Maribor is best avoided and forgotten about.
Sadly in the modern era of football the drama of qualifying for the group phase is almost as good as it gets with the need to negotiate three qualifiers while striving towards match fitness adding to the difficulty.
Fortunately Brendan Rodgers and his squad are 12 months wiser and more experienced, a year that has saw them develop a level of sophistication in European competition, especially away from home.
Draws at Monchengladbach and Manchester City were welcome signs while the win in Rosenborg suggested that this was a Celtic side that wouldn’t folk when it came to the crunch away from home.
The two games with Astana will be as much about character as ability- does the team have the mentality to stay strong when under pressure and the edge to strike when the opportunities come their way.
Over 180 minutes against Hapoel Beer Sheva we saw about four different Celtic sides in action with Kolo Toure the unlikely hero that steered the team through to the finishing line in Israel.
As we look forward to facing Astana again there are three special play-off nights that everyone would love to see repeated.