Celtic hoping for Champions League luck of the draw, says Scott Brown

Forced to play four qualifying rounds if they are to make a third successive appearance in the Champions League group stage, Celtic hope to avoid opponents capable of making the obstacle even more formidable, according to Scott Brown. The Hoops captain was speaking ahead of Tuesday’s draw in Nyon, which could pair Celtic with the likes of Spartak Trnava, who won the Slovak title for the first time in 45 years last season.

Celtic will be seeded in all four rounds, assuming they progress but, even in Brendan Rodgers’s two years in charge, the Scottish champions have faced hazardous ties.

Rodgers’ first competitive tie as Hoops manager was a Champions League defeat against Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar – arguably Celtic’s worst result in Europe – but the team recovered to win the second leg and make it to the group stage, unlike Rangers last season, when Pedro Caixinha’s players were ejected from the Europa League by Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg. Other potentially awkward opponents include Alashkert of Armenia and Sutjeska of Montenegro for ties that will be played on July 10/11 and 17/18.

Celtic also have four players at the World Cup – Dedryck Boyata (Belgium), Cristian Gamboa (Costa Rica), Mikael Lustig (Sweden) and Tom Rogic (Australia) – none of whom have had a close-season break. “Uefa seem to be making it harder and harder for us to get there, but we did it last year so that gives us hope,” Brown said.

“We’re getting stronger and better so we need to push on and get into the Champions League proper. That’s the main thing we need to do at the start of the season.”

Although last season’s feat of winning a second successive clean sweep of the Scottish honours remains fresh in the memory, Brown has enjoyed the rare sensation of a proper break. “It’s been delightful – four weeks off after a long, hard season,” he said. “The last time I had this much time off was when I was injured two years ago, just when the manager came in. Back then I couldn’t go away on international duty but I couldn’t do any training either so I had to really push on when I came back. I’ve played a lot of golf in Italy and Marbella this summer, which was fantastic – the courses, not my golf game.”

While Brown was addressing fairways, Steven Gerrard began work at Ibrox amid much chatter about his prospects of reviving Rangers as credible challengers to Celtic, not that the Parkhead captain seemed much concerned about the prospect. “They’ve brought someone new in but they’ve done that before and we’ve just kicked on and we’ll need to do that again now,” he said. “That intensity has been there already in what we’ve done so far. Our manager’s talk to us proved that he knows what’s happening and he’s brought in a few new faces as well. We’ve got to believe in our own ability and the people in our dressing room, believe that we’re fitter and stronger and better than everyone else.

“We’ll push on and the main thing is our focus is on ourselves. It’s not about Rangers, Hibs or Aberdeen – it’s about how we play.”

Gerrard has stated already that Rangers’ fitness levels must improve and Brown agreed with the former Liverpool midfielder.

“We felt that in most games,” he said. “We score a lot more goals in the last 15-20 minutes of games because we have a lot more of the ball and we create more chances.

“We work harder than every other team that we play against and that is down to what we do out there on the training pitch with the fitness coaches and the manager. The lads want to get fitter than they were last season.”

Celtic have paid a club record fee, estimated to be £9 million, to keep Odsonne Edouard, who spent last season in Glasgow on loan from Paris St-Germain. “He’s a terrific finisher and it’s great to have him here for the next few years,” Brown said. “The record fee won’t bother him – there’s always a weight of expectation when you come to Celtic anyway. Since Odsonne came in on loan he’s been fantastic but he’s a very chilled out guy.”