Brendan Rodgers can't look back on Celtic's past failings but realises Champions League qualification won't come easy

Actually forget Real Madrid, just for a moment. They can wait.

However, all his players, every last one of them, are primed for the first time in three years to get through the last qualifying round of the Champions League and to the group stages.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: If you can't handle pressure then you won't play for Celtic

Rodgers is a confident man but he is no kidder. The supporters would see through him if he tried to peddle them such a line.

Celtic have worked hard here in Maribor and the performance in Ljubljana was more than encouraging.

But as this club knows more than most, because their biggest games of the season come so early, rather than in April or May, the team as a whole is going to be a few cylinders down even a few weeks from now when it gets really interesting.

This is what did for Ronny Deila, especially the catastrophe in Malmo just over a year ago.

Rodgers has been brought to Glasgow for many things and right at the top of that list is Champions League football.

If only it was easy.

Asked about the difficulty of having so little time to prepare for three qualifying rounds of increasing difficulty, Rodgers said: “I have said before that that’s what makes it really dangerous. It’s so difficult, especially when your season ends and you’ve worked with players and they know your methods, but somehow you’ve got to try and get through it.

“Over the course of the three games the other teams will probably be a long way down the line in terms of their fitness so at this moment it’s about trying to find a way to qualify.

"In three months’ time there’s no drama. In four months’ time in terms of team mentality and structure everything is in place.”

So the trick is to sort out a quick fix now and then the long-term stuff, style of play and what not, will come somewhere down the line?

Rodgers said: “Yeah, definitely. I think at the minute it’s just about changing a little that can hopefully change a lot for us.

“And then over time that rolls out and it becomes the fluent, aggressive way of playing and that comes through personnel and through ideas.

“There should be a team and a group that over time will get better and better and better. Our work is to improve players individually and collectively, and then eventually we have 11 players with one brain in the team.

"And that one brain takes a bit of time to filter through. In the meantime we have to try to pound away.”

The memory of Malmo remains fresh in the mind of Celtic’s supporters. Their team should have won that tie.

The fact they did not cast a shadow over the rest of the campaign and triggered the slowing, lingering death of the Deila reign.

Rodgers said: “Listen, for me that’s in the past. I am already looking ahead and looking forward. I know what happened, I know goals were conceded blah, blah, blah but my job is to look forward with real positivity.

“I can only vouch for what I’ve seen and so far it’s been absolutely first class. We still have a long way to go, a long way to go in the pre-season, and we have these games to try and qualify, but I am a great believer in looking forward.

“You can over-analyse things. The bottom line is it happened. They went on to win the title, which was great, and now we’ve got to roll it out and go forward.

“Sometimes in football it’s also about luck. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and if that’s not on your side then that’s the way it falls for you sometimes.

"But there’s no doubt that at the big clubs dealing with pressure is important and it’s about giving them the strategies to cope with that and you become a better player.”

Rodgers had Champions League experience with Liverpool, although this was the season after the league slipped when Steven Gerrard did just that against Chelsea and Luis Suarez had joined Barcelona. They were not at their best.

The Irishman is desperate to get back there and prove himself with Celtic.

He said: “I think for every coach and for every player you want to have the chance to perform at the highest level.

"There’s no doubt when you work in the Champions League it’s at a different level.

“Players who were worth £5m become £10m players when they’ve played in the Champions League! That’s how it works. So from a coaching perspective, of course, it is absolutely brilliant. You play some fantastic teams.

“Also for the supporters it’s great, it’s absolutely brilliant. But we have to get there and we will be doing everything we possibly can in the timeline that we have to do it.”