READY or not, here they come - the competitive games are upon the Celtic players – no matter how prepared they feel to face them.

Cliftonville's artificial surface at Solitude is certainly not a field of dreams.

But, if it is not to be the scene of a nightmare when the Hoops run out there on Wednesday for their opening Champions League qualifier against the part-timers from Belfast, all thoughts of defeats, injuries and tiredness during the two-week build-up in Germany will have to be banished from the minds of Neil Lennon's players.

Closing their stint on the Continent with a 3-0 loss to Union Berlin was not the sign-off anyone wanted.

Returning home through a fog of conjecture about the future of Gary Hooper is another unwanted, potentially-unsettling distraction in the build-up to qualifiers which Lennon concedes are the most important games his players will face over this 10-month season.

Slip up now and they will be playing catch-up for the rest of the campaign, because the trapdoor from European football for 2013-14 awaits the unwary.

The unrest which has reared its ugly head once again on the streets of Belfast, the rush to provide extra seating to swell the restricted crowd, the timing of the tie, the fact it will be played on a plastic pitch.

They can all combine to take the collective eye of Celtic players off the ball and make the task seem harder than, really, it ought to be, given the respective standing of the two teams involved.

But, only if the players allow it to.

And Lennon is already reinforcing to his Bhoys that a professional performance will see them safely negotiate this tricky hurdle and book a place in the third qualifying round for the Group Stages.

He will point out that the pitch should not be an issue. Celtic defeated HJK Helsinki 2-0 on an identical surface in last year's qualifiers, then went on to record their first-ever Group Stage away win in Moscow where the Luzhniki Stadium has a pitch of the same artificial composition.

Sure, there are men missing, including Victor Wanyama, now safely ensconced with his new Southmapton team-mates on their pre-season tour.

With Joe Ledley, Adam Matthews, Hooper, Charlie Mulgrew, Virgil van Dijk and Tony Watt also doubtful or already ruled out due to injuries, it will be far from Celtic's strongest team which lines up against Cliftonville.

But, there will be no excuses if a shock result occurs.

All the experience gleaned from previous European campaigns, in particular over the last two seasons, must be brought to bear from the start on Wednesday and carried through into the return leg tomorrow week.

Beram Kayal is one of the men who will carry extra responsibility, both as the player handed the job of filling Wanyama's boots and as a seriously-experienced campaigner who has been through these kind of tests before, both for club and country.

The Israeli international acknowledges and accepts that the SPL champions are viewed as a major scalp to be taken, so must be ready to suppress what will be a highly-motivated and enthusiastic Cliftonville team and support.

Lennon has indicated he is even planning for the tie to require extra time to separate the teams. And, if that is the case, Kayal believes the hard graft started at Lennoxtown and completed in Germany will pay dividends.

He said: "We didn't win the games, but the gaffer looked at different players. We also tried playing 4-4-2, 5-4-1 and 3-5-2 as the gaffer had the time to try other systems.

"Everybody knows what the gaffer wants. We had a lot of time together. Now we need to be ready to go into the qualifiers."

Perhaps because they were so focused on the job in hand, and privy to the manager's long-term strategy, the four defeats against Sevastopol, CFR Cluj, Gruether Furth and Union Berlin did not prompt any panic within the squad.

Kayal admits he would have preferred to have won a few of the matches for the feelgood boost this can generate.

But, winning in the two legs against Cliftonville, then in the third qualifying round and the play-off is what really counts.

Last season's preparatory work in their Bad Goegging training camp resulted in four victories in their qualifiers against HJK Helsinki and Helsingborgs.

And Kayal saw the same level of commitment over the past fortnight in Germany.

"We all worked very hard, and in every game the fitness was going up," he told Celtic TV. "I feel much better. I played in all the games and felt okay with that."

He appreciates he must step up to the plate again after an indifferent couple of seasons as he battled to recover full fitness and the form which made him such a key member of Lennon's side when he first arrived from Israel in 2010.

BUT, while the 25-year-old has been tipped to take over from Wanyama as the anchor man in midfield, Kayal refuses to take anything for granted.

He said: "I think we have a great squad, and in the midfield we have a lot of players of high quality. They are still young and have a lot to prove for the fans, for the club, for everybody."

Tom Rogic is one such individual, and the 20-year-old Australian has looked up to the challenge in the pre-season games since he returned from a delayed break following his involvement with his national side deep into the summer.

Rogic appears to be a veteran compared to Liam Henderson, who, at just 17, has grabbed the chance to announce his arrival as a first-team squad contender with some impressive displays in the warm-up matches.

Along with Darnell Fisher and Jackson Irvine, the local lad is a good example of Lennon's philosophy that, if you work hard enough and show the ability, you will be rewarded with opportunity.

Kayal has been impressed by what Henderson has brought to the party and said: "Liam is a good player and very talented. He is a nice guy and he always tries to learn and do some extra work after training."