SCOTT BROWN has revealed that Celtic's players are desperate to go on an extended run in the Europa League.

But he reckons they'll have to make Parkhead a fortress again in order to do that.

The Hoops captain and his team-mates were gutted not to overcome NK Maribor and qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.

But he stressed they are not taking the Europa League lightly ahead of their Group D clash with Croatians Dinamo Zagreb tonight.

Brown said: "We need to look forward. One of the best seasons in the club's history came in 2003 after missing out on the Champions League but then reaching the Uefa Cup final in Seville.

"This match with Dinamo is still a huge game for us. It's Europe at the end of the day.

"We want to play against the best and, at this stage, this is the best we can face. We want go as far as can in the tournament."

Brown added: "We need to get back into that winning mentality in home games.

"We went a season or two in Europe when we pretty much cleaned up at Celtic Park. And that was with teams like AC Milan coming here.

"It shows we can do it. If we all put our heads together, start playing and show the right attitude then we can definitely do it again.There is a great bunch of lads in the dressing room and we all want to work towards that.

"Everyone is trying to put Scottish football down so we have to be the backbone of Scotland and try to keep things going."

Celtic manager Ronny Deila is hopeful Kris Commons and Stefan Scepovic will overcome injuries and be able to start tonight's tie.

Commons missed the 2-1 win over St Mirren at the weekend due to a muscle strain while Scepovic picked up a knock in training.

Jason Denayer is also likely to return but John Guidetti is ineligible and James Forrest, Mikael Lustig, Adam Matthews and Charlie Mulgrew are also out.