CELTIC players have promised to attack Zenit St Petersburg rather than defend their lead – because it’s the only way they know how to play.

The Scottish champions fly out to Russia this morning with a vital 1-0 lead ahead of their second-leg Europa League match.

Last week’s victory came courtesy of the best performance of Celtic’s season so far, with the team laying siege to the Zenit goal which was eventually breached by Callum McGregor.

Read more: Derek Rae: Europa League on the brain and Celtic are driven to distraction​

And Olivier Ntcham and Eboue Kouassi believe the best tactic in Russia will be to replicate their performance from the first game if the club want to progress beyond this stage in European competition for the first time since they beat Barcelona in the 2004 UEFA Cup.

“It is up to the manager how we play in the second leg, that’s always the way,” said Ntcham who is a shoo-in to start tomorrow.

“But if I was the coach, I’d say we should play the way we always play.

“We always try to score goals and that is our way. We don’t just have to try and stay in behind and defend for the whole second leg waiting until the game is finished.

“My thinking is that it is best to play our own way, like we are used to doing.”

And Kouassi, who should also begin the return match, agrees with his team-mate than in this case attack really is the best for of defence.

Read more: Celtic striker Moussa Dembele insists focus is fine as he eyes strong finale

“Last week was a great win for us, a great night for Celtic,” said the midfielder. “It was important we got the win at home.

“Zenit are always dangerous at home, they don’t lose a lot of games there, but we know what to do, we know how we have to play.

“But I would not say it is difficult for us to go there. If we play as we can do, then we will qualify for the next round. I don’t think Zenit will be much better than they were in Glasgow. I think we will see the same team.

“Am I confident of winning? Yes, I am hopeful. We will fight, we will play our best to get through.

“The key for us to get through in Russia is to fight, as we did in the first leg. We need to keep pressing and pushing. We must attack as we did last week.

“We have to play our normal game. We won’t go there to defend, we will play like we did on Thursday, we must try to score a goal.”