CRAIG Gordon has no idea what it’s like to sail through a European qualification campaign without a care in the world.

There is always something be it defensive worries, a player wanting a move, folk missing, injuries, or a crazy defeat in Gibraltar.

Celtic have got past all their troubles over the last two years and while this season it’s the Europa League group the club are aiming for, they sure as hell don’t want to miss out.

Even when Celtic win they tend to send their supporters through the wringer – at least it’s never boring - but Suduva really ought to be taken care without any problem. Probably.

Gordon said: “It’s been the same for quite a period now, especially in the early stages of the season.

“I remember going through a qualification campaign for the Champions League without any centre-halves. Nir [Bitton] was playing there. Kris [Ajer] did in one of first games after dropping back from midfield.

“We’ve had to deal with these things. It’s not a new thing and we’ll continue to do so until we get settled.”

Celtic are hardly trying to get into the Soccer Sixes – remember that – this is Europe’s second competition and while the Champions League is the summit for any club, should Gordon and his team get through then they might just give the supporters a bit of fun.

The Celtic goalkeeper said: “There’s some good clubs in the Europa League. It’s still a difficult competition to do well in and it’s going to be challenging, so we have to focus and make sure we get there and into the groups.

“There are no easy games, even when you look at the early rounds of the Champions League qualification. We go in as favourites, but we have to go out and earn that and take the opportunity. If we don’t, there are not poor teams at this level and you will not get it easy.”

And Celtic don’t make it easy for themselves.

They have given away too many soft goals – the two in Athens being prime and expensive examples – and they are not getting away with such moments of lost concentration.

Gordon said: “I think my season has started reasonably. We’ve lost a few goals that we probably wouldn’t have liked to have done.

“Personally, there’s no big fault attached to any of them but as a defensive group we would have liked not to have conceded them and there are ways we could have been better defensively in a few situations.

“We want to try and be better in certain situations to give ourselves the platform to win games like this.

“There are times when you go through three, four, five games without making a save and you have lost a few goals. There’s not a great deal you can do about and, the older I’ve got, the better I have become in brushing it off and realising there will be a game when you need to make five or six games.

"At Celtic, you can have only one or two actions a game and the rest is keeping things neat and tidy. I’ve done that this season.

“We’d liked to have not lost the goals we have, but from a goalkeeper’s point of view, you keep going as you know a big save or contribution can be just around the corner.

"Personally, I feel I’m in good shape and ready to do that when the time comes.

“I had very little to do over the two games, actually, against AEK. It was the same against Livingston at home and Rosenborg at home. Rosenborg away I had a few saves to make but it’s been very few and far between this season. That’s the way it goes.

“The team has been playing reasonably well in not allowing many opportunities. But the ones that have come along have been really big and the opposition teams have been scoring from them.

“We have to try and limit those really big chances and try and break them down to half-chances.”