Stephen Welsh insists pre-season tests against top-drawer sides are exactly what Celtic needed to spark their 10 In A Row attempt.
The young defender embarked on his third summer tour with the club earlier this month with the standard of opposition the highest he's ever faced.
But for Welsh, diving in at the deep end against Champions League outfits Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain will do more to prepare players than walk-overs against obscure opposition.
Neil Lennon 's side begin their quest for a 10th straight Premiership title against Hamilton on Sunday and Welsh believes they'll be firing on all cylinders.
He told the Celtic View : “This was the third pre-season I’ve been on with the first-team and the biggest difference this year has been the level of opposition we’ve played.
“Usually we’ll play a few local, lower level teams in Austria but this summer we were facing Champions League sides like Lyon and PSG.
“That’s what we need going into this season. They were preparing for Champions League games and cup games so they were around the same stage of pre-season as us.
“I felt we did okay in the games, especially younger boys like myself. I thought everyone handled it really well.
“We’ll learn more in that 60 minutes against opposition like that than we would two or three games against lower opposition teams.”
