Brendan Rodgers has insisted that Celtic are capable of turning their third-round qualifier against AEK Athens back in the club’s favour.

Celtic were held to a 1-1 draw last night after Victor Klonaridis cancelled out Callum McGregor’s first-half goal to give the Greeks the upperhand in this tie.

Rodgers, though, remains optimistic about Celtic’s chances ahead of Tuesday night’s return in Athens.

“We will have enough of the ball to think that we have the players of quality that can score,” said the Celtic manager.

“Of course we are going to have to defend well too. It was always going to be a difficult game whether we were 1-0 up or at 1-1.

“I always felt we would have to go over there and score anyway, so it is very much still I the balance.

“It swings a bit to them because they’re at home, but we certainly know we have the quality to go and perform after seeing that this evening.”

Asked if steering Celtic into the play-off round following last night draw would be the biggest accomplishment of the three Champions League qualification campaigns he had, Rodgers was philosophical.

“We’ll see,” he said. “I think everyone was thinking the same thing at this stage last year, going out to Rosenborg and wondering if we could get a result knowing it was going to be tough out there.

“But we went there and produced a really good performance and won the game. I don’t see any reason why we can’t do that again here.

“We respect that they are a good side, but we also showed tonight that we can play well, dominate the game and create chances.

“We’ll need to put in a big performance of course, but I have great confidence in the players to do that.

“Apart from that one error that we made just before half time, when we were sat here at 1-0, I would be talking about a fantastic performance. I’m still very proud of how we played.

“I thought we started the game so well in every element, our shape, offensively when we had the ball, and our defending and pressing was at a really high level. We were in good control of the game and Athens were probably waiting and waiting to get to half time and regroup but obviously we conceded in the 44th minute.

“The game didn’t change much in the second half, whether it was ten men or 11 men. They set off on a deep block. The only frustration was we couldn’t quite make that final pass count in that final third of the pitch.

“Overall we are still in a really good position. It was always going to be difficult game for us over there but after tonight and seeing how we played and the performance it gives us great hope of going out there to get a result.”