Luke McCowan has vowed that Celtic will be ready for their Champions League qualifier against either Kairat Almaty or Slovan Bratislava, as they look to prove they belong in the league phase of the competition.
The Scottish champions found out their potential opponents in the draw in Nyon earlier today, and will play the first leg of the tie at home on the midweek of 19/20 August before the return tie a week later on the midweek of August 26/27, with the exact dates and kick off times yet to be confirmed.
Celtic hammered Slovan Bratislava by five goals to one in the opening match of last season’s group phase, the start of a largely impressive showing in the competition by Brendan Rodgers’ men last term.
Despite some misgivings from supporters around the strength of the squad and the lack of summer business to date this time around, McCowan – who bagged a late winner in Sunday’s Premiership opener against St Mirren - is convinced that his side will be more than prepared to show they can have another successful season in Europe’s top competition.
"I'm sure we will be,” McCowan said.
“I mean if you were to ask us if we played it this midweek, I'm sure we'd all be ready. So, it makes no difference being in two weeks. If anything, I think we'll be more prepared.
“It's brilliant. The qualifiers are what you want to do. Obviously, it would be easier if you're just going straight into it.
"You're coming up against opponents that aren't from here and I'm sure the boys are up for it.
"I think we showed that [we belong in the league phase] last year, it's about proving it again. There's always a demand for more at this club.
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"The more games under our belt within the season, the quicker we'll get up to speed and the performance levels will hopefully get us points on the board throughout the Champions League phases and the qualifiers, so we just need to keep performing well.
"It's an old cliche but Aberdeen next Sunday again, you hit that with a good performance, then you go into the qualifiers feeling ready, feeling up to scratch and you want to go into them as positive as you can."
Celtic will be strongly fancied to progress through the qualifying tie, with the players more than aware that crashing out of the Champions League at this stage would be viewed as a disaster for the club. But McCowan is confident they can handle that pressure.
"These players play under massive pressure all the time,” he said.
“I keep repeating it, but it's what playing at this club takes. You need to be ready for that pressure, you need to have your chest out, your head high and go and show that you're a Celtic player.
"That's what it demands and that's what a manager wants. Pressures in a game hopefully bring out your best qualities."
McCowan was delighted then that his strike against a stuffy and well organised St Mirren outfit at the weekend helped Celtic avoid getting their season off on a bum note, and he hopes that the performance level as well as the win will keep the momentum and the feelgood factor flowing going into a crucial part of the club’s season, even in these early knockings of the campaign.
“Your performance levels are always the thing you look at the most,” he said.
"Even if you came away from that game at 0-0, you know your performance level was good, you know you created so many chances in the game.
“It's just one of those ones, you want to create energy, you want to create positivity when you're coming off the bench and I think at the point we made the changes, they probably needed it. Some fresh legs, stuff like that, so that's what the squad's there for.
“It feels good. Good to start the season off with a win. It's always important to go off to a good start.
"It's what you're here to do. You're here to score goals and help the team win games.
"[I thought the performance was] brilliant. We had a ton of chances, we had enough chances to go and win probably two football matches. Really unlucky with a few hitting the post, obviously a goal chopped off as well.
"Listen on another day, you probably come away scoring two or three, maybe more. But at the end of the day, it's three points and that's what we're glad with.
“You have a good pre-season, you work really hard, obviously away in different countries and whatever, getting your fitness levels high. It's about coming into the game [on Sunday] and implementing that and let that carry on throughout the games to come.
"You've got Champions League qualifiers to come and it's just about the next step, the next game, the next performance. The boys know that and it's just about staying level-headed with that.
“There's always more to come. There's always a demand for more here. You could come away winning five and six-nil in games and you probably think it should be seven or eight.
"It's just what this club demands. I'm sure through each game the performances will get better and even if there are disappointments, it's how we react to that, and I'm sure we'll do just that."
