Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon has insisted that the Parkhead side are still fighting for their lives in the Europa league.

The Parkhead side host Leipzig in Group B on Thursday night in a game that Celtic realistically have to win if they are to harbour ambitions of making it into the knockout stages of the tournament.

And Gordon is confident that remains a realistic aim.

“We believe we are still in the group and there were things we saw from them, and in our performance, that gives us hope in Glasgow,” said the keeper.

“The home games were always going to be vital for us. We’ve got Leipzig and Salzburg to come to Scotland, while we always felt we’d need to pick up something away from home at some point.

“We haven’t managed to do that so far but there was some encouragement in Germany. We created chances. We didn’t managed to take them and that’s what you need to do at this level.

“That could be the difference at Celtic Park.”

There have been some suggestions that European football has taken a backseat to domestic dominance this term but it is something that Gordon has rubbished.

“I wouldn’t say so,” he insisted. “We had a team out in the first leg [in Germany] that was full of legs and willing to cover every blade of grass.

“We wanted to create chances and try to nick a goal. We almost managed it on a couple of occasions but there were a few defensive lapses.

“We tried to stick to our game plan and it worked at times. We didn’t score, which we wanted to do, and we were punished at the other end.

“We are trying to compete in the competitions in Scotland but we want to do well in Europe. We always set out to try to win games, regardless of the competition.”

Celtic were undone in the first game against the Bundesliga side following a crazy first-half spell in which they gifted two goals in quick succession.

Gordon, though, still had a bit of work to do but keeping the scoreline down might come into play if Leipzig and Celtic are pushing for the same second-spot that would give them European football beyond Christmas.

At the minute the German side are three points better off than Celtic but also have a superior goal difference of six.

“You never know how important these saves can be,” said Gordon. “It was about keeping them out as long as possible.

“The funny thing was, I didn’t have too many saves over there and they didn’t create that many chances.

“That was the most disappointing thing. It was tough to lose the game the way we did.

“We had chances ourselves. Odsonne [Edourad] had a chance early on and then you look at the one for Olivier [Ntcham] late on. At 2-1 it would have given us a great last five minutes but you never know how important these moments will be.

“The goals we conceded were quite difficult to take.

“It’s something that’s happening now and again to us. There was a bit of good fortune in that the ball fell right to their guys in the middle of the goal. They had free shots at it for both goals in Germany.

“It was bitterly disappointing we didn’t defend them, but there was an element of good fortune. The way they play, they get players in the box, so they are there to take those chances, and when it comes down to it, we didn’t defend them.”