I expect that Celtic will make it through to the group stages of the Champions League and past Astana – but it will not be an easy task.

This was the game last season that set Moussa Dembele up and on his way to a cracking first season at the club, but if memory serves me correctly, it was a pretty fraught night at Celtic Park in that second leg.

This time the tie is on its head with Celtic at home before the long trek to Kazakhstan and what I wold say is that these are the game where you really need to make home advantage count.

We would all ideally pick being away from home first so that you know exactly what you need to do on your own turf but this is just the way it is and you need to get on with it.

But what you would like to do is go away from home on that eight-hour flight knowing full well that you have something to protect.

Of course, the main thing is, as is always the case at home in Europe, that you do not concede. You keep it tight at the back and you try to make sure that the very least you come out of the game with is a clean sheet.

But Celtic have the quality now to go and get a couple of goals to take with them.

What we have seen in the 12 months since the teams last met is a maturity within Celtic. They have come on significantly under Brendan Rodgers, both as a team and as individuals.

You look at leigh Griffiths and the way he has improved so much under Rodgers, and you could go through the entire team and pick out players. Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong, Craig Gordon – they all came on.

Crucially, though, the biggest thing for me is that there is a sense of confidence, a belief and a calmness about Celtic.

They didn’t play well in that opening leg against Rosenborg at Celtic Park and I do think that fitness at this stage comes into play quite significantly, But you saw the difference a week made in that respect and what struck me about the way they played over in Trondheim was just how composed the performance was.

There was no mad dash to try and get the goal and leave themselves open at the back. It was a very mature European performance away from home and what you have to say is that augers well for any team who are looking to get into the Champions League.

So while I think we would all expect Astana to provide another significant test – like Rosenborg, they are well into their season while their plastic turf over there will be another challenge – but this is a Celtic team who have not just the ability to get past them, but who have the mental aptitude to cope with the pressure of this game.

There is European football assured in one form or another know but I think we all know that anything other than the Champions League will feel a little flat.

This is a squad of players who have gone through the entirety of last season unbeaten and that momentum works in your favour as does the sense of belief it gives rise to.

These are the games that set the tone for the entire season and while Celtic weren’t at their best in that first game against Rosenborg, it has been a relatively assured journey up until now.

The one good thing about Astana is that everyone knows what they are going into. They know the ground, they know the surface, they know what it will be like to cope with the time difference and there will be no real surprises.

Both teams will have to cope with the lengthy journey and it is a case now of pulling out all the stops to get into the group stages of the Champions League. It is a tournament like no other and it gives the entire club a massive lift just to get in there.

There is the financial aspect too which is difficult to overlook given that it could mean the difference in terms of signing players, but for the current management team and squad it is mostly about the prestige of getting to go out and compete against the best.

I still think that if I had been in Brendan’s shoes I would have been tempted to bring in another striker given that Dembele will be out until September. If Celtic are successful in making it into the group stages then he could yet miss that first game because the last thing you want is to bring him back too early.

Still, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves. There is another tense tie to negotiate first and it might be a case of wrapping Griffiths in a bit of cotton wool between now and then as Celtic seek to get back to the area where we all believe they should be playing their football.