Celtic head to Paris this week for their penultimate group game of this season’s UEFA Champions League against PSG.

While few would realistically expect Brendan Rodgers’ side to go and get a result the bottom line is that for Celtic you want to come out of this game with your credibility in tact.

We all saw how good PSG were at Celtic Park. They were exceptional on the night but at the same time I think Celtic will still be disappointed at the way they stood off them and allowed them to play.

This week in Paris you would like to think that they are capable of producing a performance that is more in keeping with the way that they played against Bayern Munich in the last home game.

Obviously it is a different kind of meeting in that Celtic Park offers so much in terms of atmosphere and energy as opposed to playing in the Parc de Princess but at the same time you want to take the positive elements out of that display against Bayern.

I have heard it quoted that Celtic have nothing to lose against Paris and in some respects regardless of what happens this week, it will not alter what they have to do in terms of getting that third spot which would give them European football after Christmas.

But at the same time you want to maintain your credibility too. I understand all the arguments about being pragmatic and playing in a certain way but what Celtic did against Bayern a few weeks back was get right in amongst them and stop them playing.

They looked to contain the opposition without being negative and I think that is what we want to see against PSG.

Not that it is an easy task. You have to understand the level that this is at and the quality of players that PSG have. We all know that and we have seen it first-hand; this is a team that will have ambitions to go and win the Champions League this season.

So it is as difficult as it gets.

But what it does is allows Celtic to continue their exposure to top quality European opposition which can only benefit you as a team as you look to grow.

Similarly, if the club are successful in getting themselves into the Europa League after Christmas – which was the objective this season – then the experience of playing against the likes of Bayern and PSG, two major heavyweights in the Champions league, can only be to their advantage.

It helps that Moussa Dembele is back and fully match sharp.

I have been an admirer of the striker since his early days at Celtic and I do think that he has that element of quality. He is a player that you can truly envisage featuring at the very top level.

He has the temperament to go with the ability and in a game like this as he heads back to Paris to play in front of his fellow countrymen, you suspect that both he and Olivier Ntcham will look to make an impression.

I honestly think that Dembele and also Ntcham will be looking to really ask questions of the French manager between now and the summer. There is no way that any player who scored a hat-trick at under-21 level slips under the radar.

Dembele’s name will have been mentioned and it is up to him now to go out and show what he has got over the next six months. Certainly, the form that we saw from him in the opening months of last season suggested he is comfortable at that level.

If Celtic can keep themselves in Europe, as I think we all strongly expect them to, then you have to say that he will give himself a decent platform to go and stake his claim. If he keeps the goals and the performances coming the who knows.

There will be a few others out there is Russia to keep him company if he makes it. Tom Rogic and Mikael Lustig are booked up for the World Cup but it might not be the worst thing in the world for Celtic to not have too many out there.

That sounds like a contradiction in many ways. Playing at a World Cup is the pinnacle of a player’s career and there is no doubt that you improve from that experience.

But given the fact that there will be eight Champions League qualifying games for Celtic to negotiate this summer if they are to make it back into the group stages of the competition next season, there is almost no chance of a break between this season finishing and the next one starting.