THEY started with a rampant cavalry charge that threatened to blow their visitors away but by the time Wednesday night’s first leg Uefa Champions League play-off against Malmo had concluded, Celtic had trained the guns on themselves.

The bipolar nature of Celtic’s evening saw them swing from the high of running over the top of Malmo and banging gamely on the door to the elite playground of the Champions League to the deflating low of conceding a sloppy 95th-minute goal that entirely changed the complexion of this tie.

Celtic Park, vibrant and noisy under the floodlights, was lulled into sullen silence when the whistle went just seconds after Malmo’s second goal.

With just six days between the two legs, the Celtic players have little time to absorb and respond to the psychological implications of how they allowed a spirited Malmo side to slither off the hook.

Cocky and assured in those early stages, the Parkhead side showed that while they were fearless they were also fragile. That bouncing early tempo, the crisp, precise passing, the energy of the crowd all ebbed away when Jo Inge Berget’s thumped in a volley to throw Malmo a lifeline.

Even when Leigh Griffiths restored that two-goal advantage, the anxiety remained – and how the visitors exploited it.

The end result is a tense stand-off. Whoever lands the first blow in Malmo will be key in determining who is left bloodied and who walks away with a fist clenched in triumph. On recent evidence Celtic have the capability of scoring in Sweden on Tuesday evening, but the bigger question revolves around whether or not they can keep a clean sheet.

Certainly, midfielder Nir Bitton remains confident that Celtic can prevail against Malmo. The Swedes overcame a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 against Red Bull Salzburg in the previous round.

But with captain and top goalscorer Marcus Rosenberg and midfielder Enoch Adu due to return from suspension, they will feel that they hold the upper hand against Celtic.

Bitton, though, believes Celtic belong in the Champions League – and are capable of proving it.

“Of course we believe we can do it,” he said. “Everybody saw who is the better team. Malmo had maybe two shots on goal and scored two goals. Two away goals are very important but we believe in ourselves and we will go there to win the game.

“If we go there to keep a clean sheet and play for a draw then you lose 100 per cent. We need to play for the win and I hope we will do it. We still have the advantage and we need to do what we can to protect it.

“That second goal was very important for them, but if we want to play Champions League we need to go over there and win the game. Celtic are a Champions league team.”

There has been a tension about the Hoops’ backline since the season began although Ronny Deila will point to the fact that his team have played five European games this summer, have won four and drawn one while scoring 10 goals and conceding just three.

But it is that performance in Qarabag that he will have to draw on if his side are to surmount this final 90 minutes and make it into the hallowed group stages.

That he may have to do so without the influence of Mikael Lustig will be a worry for the Celtic manager. The defender is cursed when it comes to injury problems and as such he has been handled in such a way that he rarely asked to play more than one game a week.

The sight of him being stretchered off is one which is a source of anxiety for Deila given the calming influence the Swedish internationalist has on those around him.

DEILA has the option of going with Efe Ambrose or Saidy Janko, but Bitton was relaxed about the possibility of Lustig missing the return leg.

“I hope he will be fine but if not we have plenty of players who can play in that position,” he insisted. “Mikael is a very important player for us but if he cannot make it then we have to deal with this.”

And while the Israeli acknowledged Celtic’s part in their own downfall on Wednesday night, he was keen to remind everyone that the Parkhead side will board the plane to Sweden on Monday with an advantage to protect.

Given the time of Berget’s goal, the game concluded with a feeling akin to defeat, but Bitton believes Celtic were the better of the two teams.

“We were sloppy,” he said. “But we have another game and we have the advantage. We need to keep it. We could have finished the game earlier and when you don’t do that, you pay for it.

“We need to do as much as we can to protect our advantage but it will not be easy. But if we want to play Champions league we need to do it. We have to improve and it will be a difficult game over there.

“It is not easy to lose a goal in 94 minutes. It happens in football. We have a very difficult game because Malmo are a very good team. We need to play the way we did in the first half. Of course we can play like that again.

“We need to play our game and do the same things as we did in the first half and we will go to the Champions League.

“No team in the world can play that intensity for 90 minutes. If we want to play against the top teams in the world then we need to go over there and show that we are the better team.”