CELTIC defender Erik Sviatchenko believes Wednesday's friendly win over Austrian side BW Linz was the ideal start to pre-season preparations.

A James Forrest goal gave the Hoops a 1-0 win in Rohrbach to kick off their summer tour, with further tests against Rapid Vienna and Slavia Prague still to come.

Brendan Rodgers' side return to competitive action when the Champions League second qualifying round begins in mid-July, where they will face either Linfield or La Fiorita. 

Read more: On tour with Celtic: No let-up for The Invincibles as they strive to improve on historic season

And the Danish centre-back says that the Bhoys are happy to be back playing games as they focus on the challenges ahead.

“It was nice to see the fans – and some of them were Austrian as well – and it just shows that Celtic is everywhere,” he told Celtic TV.

“It was good to be back playing football against a team – more than just training. Everyone played 45 minutes, so it was a good start.

“This is what we need to do to be at our best, to prepare and develop our match fitness, so we take every single game in pre-season as a very important game and, from there, we keep pushing on.

“We’re looking forward to those games,” Sviatchenko said. “They will be difficult games but everyone just wants to play football. We’re facing good teams but that’s what football’s about.”