CELTIC aim to use today's friendly against Dynamo Dresden in Germany to move up another gear in their race to hit top speed.

They play the League Three side this afternoon, return to Germany to face St Pauli next weekend, then tackle Spurs in Helsinki in a fortnight.

It is a heavy schedule after four games at their pre-season training camp in Austria, and between all this Celtic are plotting a way through qualification to the Champions League group stage.

They face KR Reykjavik on Tuesday after their 1-0 win in Iceland in midweek.

If successful they travel to either St Patrick's in Dublin or Legia Warsaw in Poland the next week for the first leg of their third qualifying tie.

Assistant manager John Collins is confident it will do the players good. He said: "As every game goes by, every 90 minutes, the players are getting sharper and are getting their touch and their confidence back and fitness. We have taken a big squad so we will look at a few of the players."

Boss Ronny Deila will have the next game with KR in mind when he picks his side today, but whoever is selected Collins expects the new manager's style to come through.

He said: "It will be high-tempo football. We want to be creating chances and scoring goals."