Craig Gordon believes that the Celtic players on international duty at Hampden on Saturday evening need to put the sickening end to the game firmly out of their minds over the coming week.

The Parkhead side had six players in the squad – all started bar James Forrest who was on the bench – and after a gruelling season, there is little time for respite before it all starts again.

Gordon has ten days now to relax and take his mind off football matters but he has insisted that whether there are those who need more time or not, Celtic must report fit and eager for what he has described as the most important games of the season.

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Brendan Rodgers’ side will play their first Champions League qualifier on the 11th or 12th July with three rounds required to be negotiated before they can earn an invite into Europe’s premier competition.

Celtic made it through for the first time in three years last summer and Gordon is ready for another crack at it.

“We will try and train the best we can to cope with it and we have to be ready for the first part of the season because they are the most important games of our entire year,” said Gordon. “We need to make sure that we are in the right frame of mind and I am sure that the manager will ensure that we are.

“They are massive games because of what is at stake. The group stages of the Champions League have certainly been among the highlights of my career because of the magnitude of the occasion. It is a competition that every player want to have the chance to experience.

“There is another aspect too for the club in that there are financial rewards to be gained there but for us as players it is about the chance to play against the very best again. The supporters love those nights, we as players love them and it is really about making sure we are in that environment again.

“So there isn’t much downtime or too much time to reflect on winning the Treble or the game against England. But that is football sometimes. We would far rather be in this position than not so I don’t think you’ll hear too many complaints.”

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Leigh Griffiths wrote his name into Scottish folklore with his two free-kicks against England, although in typical Scottish fashion there was a painful twist in the tail with Harry Kane’s late leveller.

And while Griffiths deserved to leave Hampden with the wind beneath his feet, Gordon has insisted that no matter the disappointment of the final minutes that the striker will look at it in a slightly different way.

“Leigh will have enjoyed those goals, no matter what,” he said. “I know how gutted he was after the game and he was the same as everyone else in that he would have loved being part of a win but at the same time Leigh is a goalscorer and those goals will mean a lot to him.

“No-one can take that away from him. I wasn’t surprised because I have seen him do it so regularly in games and at training up at Lennoxtown but I suspect it was sweet for him to get off the mark for Scotland that way. Hopefully when the dust settles he too can take a lot from the game although he is always a confident lad anyway.

“People can say what they like about Joe Hart but he is a top, top goalkeeper. He has played at the highest level and for Griff to go and ping two into different corners like that took some doing. He won’t be shy in telling us, I’m sure!”

Meanwhile, despite taking only a point that could so easily have been three, Gordon has maintained that Scotland will not give up their World Cup aspirations just yet. In truth it is difficult to envisage a path opening now to Russia – Gordon Strachan’s side would need to win all four remaining games and even then it might not be enough – but Gordon believes he has seen signs of improvement in the national side.

There was widespread criticism at the concession of the goal for Gordon who didn’t come off his line as well as for Stuart Armstrong whose decision to try to play the ball out rather than hoof into row z proved particularly costly.

But Gordon has tried to stress the positives for Scotland to take from the game.

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“It was such a difficult one to take,” he admitted. “We had set our stall out to not get beat and to not let them play and I think we achieved that but the way it happened was hard to stomach.

“We will still take the draw and you just never know, it might end up being a very important point in the group. Of course, we were so close to taking three and it would have been special to have done it against England. It would have been an historic win so to have that taken away with a last minute goal was a bit of a sickener but we have to strive to try and see the bigger picture.

“We still have a chance. I think we have played better in recent games. I think we look more confident, the football has been better and we can try and go into our remaining four games and try and win them.

“We will see what happens now over the next few months but we are not giving up on anything just yet.

“There was a bit of tiredness that came in towards the end which was inevitable given the way we had worked to stop them playing. We had tried to press them and towards the end we were out on our feet at times. We just need to look at the things we done well and try to take that on board as we go forward.”