Leigh Griffiths: We won't repeat the stupid mistakes which kept Celtic out of the Champions League

Ronny Deila’s era was littered with bad defending and utterly avoidable goals conceded which cost him the chance to take the club into the Champions League group stages.

And there would have been more than a few supporters worried those days had stayed for bad when Celtic lost to the Lincoln Red Imps.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: The Champions League needs Celtic - so why are they trying to keep us out?

However, the arrival of Kolo Toure and emergence of Eoghan O’Connell has tightened up a defence which cannot allow any errors tonight against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

This has come as no accident.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers won't lose any sleep before the Champions League play-off because his Celtic are ready to make the step-up

Griffiths said: “Under this manager, his attention to detail is great. He has pinpointed where we were weak last year and is trying to rectify that straight away.

“We have been pretty solid defensively and set-piece wise as well. But he wants set-pieces for us to count. We didn't do enough from these last year and he is trying to add that to our game.

"If you look at our performances so far there haven't been too many individual mistakes and collectively we have been quite solid.

“We have two very important games to come and if we don't have any individual mistakes we will have enough quality to go through over the two legs."

This part is true. Griffiths is in great nick and his likely partner in a fluid 4-4-2, this is how Rodgers would describe it, will be Moussa Dembele who has now chipped in with a few goals of late.

Scoring won’t be a problem in either leg – at least you would think.

Rodgers sees Griffiths as his £15mllion man, this is what the manager believes the striker is worth, which is around about the money the club would rake in if they managed to get through this play-off.

There is an awful lot riding on Celtic’s top striker. Does he welcome that pressure? What do you think?

Griffiths said: “The manager has had a lot of faith in me in the last four games and, hopefully, over the next two I can play a part.

"It is not going to be easy but if I am the man to put us through I will be delighted.

“I try to keep my head down and work hard and show the manager what I can do. Hopefully he has looked at videos from last season and the season before that and seen that I can score goals.

“But I think he has been more impressed with my link-up play and other aspects.

“This is where we want to be. That pinnacle of a club career is being in the Champions League and so the boys who have been here the last two years have been hurting.

"We have got a chance to rectify that again on Wednesday night, to get a good lead and hopefully take something over there to defend.”

Griffiths joked that he felt like a jinx given Celtic’s Champions League record has been dreadful since he arrived in January 2014.

And this has meant the player has not had the chance to test himself against the very best, something this natural goalscorer is desperate to do.

Griffiths said: “The only way I can prove myself to everybody around the world is if we get to the Champions League and I get to play there when we get there.

"That is the way I am judged, by scoring goals.

“Gary Hooper did it when he was here, and hopefully that is how I will fondly be remembered - as one of the great players to score in the Champions League."