CELTIC did the business in Iceland this week – and that was the most important thing.

It is death or glory at this stage of the Champions League, since all that matters in the qualifying games is simply getting through.

Next, however, is Qarabag and a trip which is something of a venture into the unknown.

In circumstances such as this you also have to remember that Qarabag face a long journey to Glasgow next Wednesday, and it is up to Celtic to try and turn the screw in the first leg.

Ideally, you want to be heading out into the 7,000-mile round trip for the return leg with a commanding lead.

You have to hope the Azerbaijanis will feel the effects of the travelling this week and that Celtic make that count.

The travelling issue then can become far less of an issue if you are going into that second leg knowing that you have a good lead to protect.

But I do think that the bar is getting higher with every round, and it is imperative Celtic make every training session count over these next few days.

There is a game against Rennes tomorrow which will help the players continue on their journey of trying to get up to speed, and it is vital that they are as sharp going into Wednesday night’s game as they possibly can be.

I have to say that I wasn’t overly surprised to see Charlie Mulgrew slot in at left-back in Iceland this week.

I actually think that decision has been made easier for Ronny Deila because of the partnership of Nir Bitton, Scott Brown and Stefan Johansen in the middle of the park.

The fact that the trio have played so well together has meant that Mulgrew is not overly missed in the centre of the pitch and he is definitely capable of doing both a solid defensive job at left-back as well as getting forward to offer some support.

Emilio Izaguirre has always been lauded for his ability to get forward, but I think that Mulgrew can provide a good option in that respect as well – he still managed to get himself on the scoresheet in the 4-1 victory at Stjarnan – as also being more defensively sound.

With Mulgrew on the left and Mikael Lustig on the right – assuming he can stay fit and injury-free – and Dedryck Boyata and Virgil van Dijk in the centre, Celtic have a relatively solid look.

Yet, there have been some suggestions of frailties at the back and you do have to accept that a partnership between Boyata – who is still only emerging back into regular first-team football having been on the sidelines for so long – and Van Dijk, will still take a little bit of time, just as it did initially with Jason Denayer and Van Dijk.

One plus for Celtic is that Qarabag, just like Deila’s side, are not far into their season.

At a stage like this, that is something that can be a major difference. The fact that their season is roughly the same as the Scottish campaign – they played their cup final at the very beginning of June and go back to league action at the beginning of August – means that they do not have an advantage in terms of fitness.

However, given the proximity of the tie on the back of the opening qualifier, there is not much time to do homework on the opposition – although you have to remember that the same is true for Qarabag.

The biggest thing, I would imagine, in the build-up to the game is in trying to eliminate the slackness that is still there at the back on occasion.

When you are playing against a team that you are superior to, as was the case in Iceland, you have the chance to recover from a slip, but when the quality of opposition is strong, then you do not always get the chance to come back into the game.

In terms of creating chances and scoring goals, Celtic look dangerous when they are going forward, but there are still aspects of the defensive play that you would hope will solidify as match sharpness and awareness comes on.

Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong have already proven that they are capable of playing on this stage and I suspect they will link well with Nadir Ciftci once he finds his feet.

They lend Celtic a strong attacking edge but, crucially, they will need to be just as sharp at the other end of the pitch next week.

Glasgow Times:

Nadir Ciftci needs to learn lesson from skipper Scott Brown

NADIR CIFTCI’S six-game domestic ban should be sufficient for the penny to drop that he needs to learn to control his aggression – and in Scott Brown, he has the perfect example of how to get the best out of your natural temperament.

The Celtic captain, like Ciftci, had a disciplinary issue in the early days of his career, but as he has matured, he has been able to use that aggression to the good of his game.

I agree with Ronny Deila that you do not want to curb that naturally aggressive streak – but you do want to channel it.

In a funny way, however, the ban might actually work in his favour.

He will need to sit out these games, but he will be able to get up to speed on the training ground and he will be available for selection for all of the European games.

It seems obvious now that Nadir is Ronny’s favoured striker for the European games, although you would have to say that Leigh Griffiths is making that choice less straightforward.

Leigh has done everything he can to remind Ronny of what he offers in a goalscoring sense: a hat-trick in the friendly against Eibar in Spain and a goal from the bench against Stjarnan in Iceland has shown that he is prepared to fight for his place.

Just as he did when he was overlooked in the opening half of the season last year, Leigh seems determined to show what he has and that can only be of benefit to the team.

Certainly, though, there has always traditionally been a need at Celtic for two strikers and it remains to be seen if Ronny could fit both Leigh and Nadir into the system he favours.

It would mean tweaking it, or else playing Leigh, perhaps in one of the wide positions at the expense of Stuart Armstrong or Gary Mackay-Steven.

Celtic fans will always push for two out-and-out strikers, but it may be that Ronnyla reverts to a more traditional 4-4-2 system only midway through games when he could bring one of them on from the bench, once Nadir’s domestic ban has been served.

It may also be that Leigh is preferred for the home European games, while Nadir’s physical attributes make him a more natural choice to play away from home.

Certainly, though, it would be difficult not to appreciate the claim that Leigh is trying to make for the striker’s role.

Glasgow Times:

Rennes workout will be crucial for Hoops

I WOULD imagine that the team who will face Rennes at Celtic Park tomorrow afternoon will be the same side that lines up against Qarabag next Wednesday night in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers.

While Rennes will be happy enough to play the game out as a pre-season friendly, Ronny Deila and his Bhoys will take it a bit more seriously than that simply because it is the precursor to a massive game next week.

It is another preparatory 90 minutes that can allow Celtic to explore a few things and also allow the relationships on the pitch to gel a little more.

Dedryck Boyata will still need a wee bit of time to settle into the team, and the same goes for Nadir Ciftci.

It is still early days and it always takes a little bit of time to adjust to the demands of a new team.

As a manager, though, you do always look for a forward to get a goal relatively quickly just because you know that it can help them hugely when it comes to taking a wee bit of pressure off.

Tomorrow’s game will be used to really get things ticking over ahead of Wednesday.

Glasgow Times:

Your question for legend Davie Hay

KENNY McPHERSON from Shettleston asked Davie: “What was the most gruelling trip you ever faced in your career?”

“I was relatively fortunate as a player that we were never really away in the back of beyond. However, I was manager of Celtic when we were drawn against Dynamo Kiev in the 1986-87 European Cup campaign just a few months after Russia had suffered the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

“In actual fact, the travelling ended up being relatively smooth, but at that point in time it was always described as going behind the Iron Curtain, which was seen as a jump into the unknown.

“We drew 1-1 at Celtic Park and, although we lost the return 3-1, it was 1-1 until the latter stages when they scored to take the lead and then hit us again as we pushed for a leveller.

“If I recall correctly, we actually had one off the post before they made it 2-1. Back then, a journey to Russia was seen with some trepidation, much the way that Celtic will view their trip the week after next to to Azerbaijan.”

If you have a question for Davie, just email him on daviehay@eveningtimes.co.uk and we'll print the answer alongside the question.