At one point in the second period an unexpected burst of eight sprinklers doused Celtic and Standard Liege in a welcome cooling spray as they played against a backdrop of intense summer sun. But as the Parkhead side negotiated this friendly with ease, everything at the club is focused on ensuring there is no cold water to rain on their Champions League ambitions.

There are vagaries to be found in seeking to over-analyse any lessons from run-of-the-mill pre-season friendly games but the early evidence would suggest that Celtic look in optimum shape as they seek to plot their way through the perilous qualification passage for the group stages of Europe’s elite competition.

In fairness, Standard Liege looked considerably off the pace of Celtic with the Parkhead side looking sharper and hungrier all over the pitch. The end result was a comprehensive victory as Brendan Rodgers’ side set them themselves up for Wednesday night’s second leg UEFA Champions League qualifier against Alashkert.

Given the commanding 3-0 lead that was established last week in Armenia, the forthcoming 90 minutes ought not to tax Celtic any more than yesterday’s friendly did. The bar, though, will rise with some speed after this week.

Odsonne Edouard set the tone against Standard Liege with a beautiful opening goal as he curled in a right-foot finish from the far side of the box after beating two defenders. The French striker netted his inaugural European goal for the club in the first leg against Alashkert last Tuesday evening and although it remains early days, the signs are there of an interesting partnership with countryman Moussa Dembele.

It was the latter who followed him onto the scoresheet as he nicked in to capitalise on some sleepy defending from Luis Pedro Cavanda before converting the chance. Next was the turn of Callum McGregor too to underline that he is another who appears set to pick up from where he left off. The midfielder netted with a fine raking finish to give Celtic a third. Not to be outdone, there was a brief handbags spat between Scott Brown and Paul-Jose Mpoku to offer some assurance that the summer break has done little to mellow the Celtic midfielder.

As Rodgers had explained before the game, the second period saw an entirely different XI start the game with a rare run out from Marvin Compper. The defender has proved to be somewhat elusive since signing in the January transfer window – he has featured just once in a Scottish Cup tie against Morton – and has been injured for much of his time at the club. He played the entirety of the second period and it remains to be seen if there is more to come from him at Celtic this term.

Scott Allan, Scott Sinclair, Eboue Kouassi and Ryan Christie were also among those who played the latter half of the game alongside a smattering of players from the youth ranks. Calvin Miller, Mikey Johnston and Anthony Ralston would have been familiar faces for the Hoops support but the likes of defender Stephen Welsh would have been a new sighting with the young defender making his debut for the club.

Johnston added the fourth after Christie had just failed to connect before Liege pulled a goal back, much to the irritation of development goalkeeper Conor Hazard.

It was the only real source of frustration on a day in which Celtic added another layer of preparation as they get ready to roll up the sleeves over the next few weeks.