They recovered, and then some.

That sticky night in Gibraltar will be confined to the embarrassing hiccups box rather than the calamitous drawer it might have been posted in.

Celtic turned up last night to atone for that indiscretion with a composed dismantling of Lincoln Red Imps which had them with their feet up by the time the half-time whistle rolled around.

Three goals in a six-minute goal blitz from Mikael Lustig, Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts had Celtic firmly in their comfort zone, although there will be far tougher nights ahead in this competition.

Tormentor-in-chief of the part-timers was Roberts, the on-loan winger from Manchester City. Celtic fans might well be licking their lips at the prospect of having him at their disposal for the full season that lies ahead.

He netted Celtic’s third, and arguably the most exquisite of the night, but he was more than just a threat in front of goal. He was a menace on the flank and the source of repeated incursions as Celtic, predictably, blew away the men from Gibraltar.

Joseph Chipolina, the unfortunate full-back who found himself in the position of trying to contain the effervescent Roberts, will have woken up still dizzy this morning from the run around he got from the 19-year-old.

The goals did not come immediately, but as soon as Lustig had burst the dam, there was no way back from the visitors.

The Hoops will face Astana in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, and while this tie proved, eventually, to be straightforward, the trip to Kazakhstan next week will be viewed with some trepidation by Celtic.

They shrugged off Red Imps away – as well they should have – but the bar to the Champions League group stages remains high.

And, while it was a breeze at Celtic Park last night as they unfurled the league championship flag in front of a packed, almost capacity crowed, and it was all smiles and goals and good fun, the next two rounds will be a severe examination of the credentials of this team.

By then, Brendan Rodgers will hope to have added at least one more signing – a central defender appears imminent – and even as comfortable as last night was, there was still one moment that served to underline the necessity of such a move.

Erik Sviatchenko was caught wrong-sided by Lee Casciaro – the scorer of the only goal in the first leg – and although the move ultimately came to nothing it was a sobering moment on a night when Celtic effectively had it all their own way.

Or almost. The scoreline might have been greater had Polish referee Bartosz Frankowski not had a change of heart when he initially blew for a Hoops penalty in the tenth minute. Stuart Armstrong looked to have been felled inside the box but upon discussion with his assistant, the whistler relegated his initial assessment of a spot-kick to a free-kick which Griffiths hit over the bar.

The striker did not have long to wait, however, to re-introduce a familiar celebration. Fresh on the back of last season’s 40-goal haul, the striker netted Celtic’s second with a fine left-foot drive after cutting in from the right. As they game wore on, he could have had more.

The ground was still rocking at the point of Griffiths' second following Lustig’s curling effort which had effectively signalled the end of the game as a contest. Up until then Celtic had dominated but had been frustrated in their attempts as they peppered the Red Imps' goal with shot after shot.

Celtic's intention to go for the jugular had been clear from the moment Rodgers had penned his team lines, with just about every attacking option available to him handed a jersey.

Griffiths and Moussa Dembele linked together in a straightforward front pairing, with Roberts and James Forrest on either wing.

Armstrong got a chance at his favoured role while Callum McGregor also took the field, as Nir Bitton and Stefan Johansen remained sidelined with injury.

It was an interesting starting formation which Rodgers sent out for his first competitive game in the dug-out at Celtic Park with what was a three-man defence, with Scott Brown falling back on the rare occasions when Red Imps had the ball.

Kristoffer Ajer was introduced to the fray just before the hour mark as he slotted into Celtic’s backline, while Emilio Izaguirre and Nadir Ciftci also put in appearances as the Parkhead side saw out the second period.

They gently probed for more goals, one of which Griffiths thought he had claimed only for him to be denied by virtue of an offside flag, the decision greeted with little more than a shrug of the shoulders. By that stage his evening's work had been done.