Brendan Rodgers has insisted that he will not be deterred by the challenge of getting Celtic into the Champions League group stages again next season – despite the qualification bar being raised higher again.

Next season’s Scottish champions will have to successfully negotiate four rounds – eight games – to gain entry into the group stages of Europe’s premier competition.

The expectancy is that it will be Celtic who will win the title and therefore go and fight for a place in the tournament and Rodgers is determined that the club will find a way.

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“That’s the challenge,” he told the club’s AGM in a screened video. “Year on year it gets more difficult and next season there is an extra qualification round.

“These are the obstacles we have to get over and the challenges that face us.

“In Europe the game is based around finance and we are in a league that doesn’t give us a lot of finance.

“So just like on the field of play we have to find a way.

“The beauty of Celtic is that we are trying to create and rely on ourselves and no-one else. When you are like that you will have sustainable success and that is important.”

Despite so far being unbeaten domestically, Rodgers has warned that it has not been an easy task to take Celtic to an Invincible Treble.

His side have picked up where they left off this season but much of that stems from Rodgers’ insistence that his players never lose their hunger.

“After the Scottish Cup Final I was drained after the season,” he explained. “You think of the number of games we prepared for and the record wasn’t the main focus but when we got to 33, 34 games then it becomes a special achievement.

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“How we did it is important.

“We’ve broken records in terms of wins and goals scored. That’s important. It’s not just winning, it’s wining in a very defined way.

“But it’s not easy - there are so many games and former players will tell you the difficulties of playing midweek in the Champions League and then travelling away or facing a game at home. That can be a banana skin, but the players have coped with that.

“As staff we’ve tried to plan exactly the same for Bayern and Barcelonas we would for Alloa or Albion Rovers in the Cup.

“It doesn’t matter - the preparation is the same. We have left no stone unturned and we go into the game with the full focus on performing well.

“If you sit back in a comfy chair in the office and think about what you have achieved and what you have done then you fall into a trap. It’s worldwide in sport and business - and that’s complacency.

“The success we’ve had over 17 months has been fantastic and every single person at the club has been a part of that.

“But if you sit back and think what you did yesterday guarantees success tomorrow then you are in the wrong movie.

“You have to look beyond and find way to develop and improve and the best times to do that is when you are winning.”