Celtic 5-1 Slovan Bratislava: Brendan Rodgers praises ‘greed, hunger and mentality’

“We played well in the first half, scored an early goal and then had more chances to play the game, but I felt like we touched the ball too often.

“We repeated that we don’t have to do anything special, we just have to be ourselves. Just don’t think about it too much.

“The razzmatazz around the Champions League is great, but we’re playing against a team that defends in 4-4-2, which we play against here in the league. OK, they’re different levels, but it’s still the same idea.

“You could see it straight away in the second half, the players were absolutely sensational. We could have had more than five.”

It was a fantastic start to the expanded 36-team tournament in one competition for Celtic, who have seven more games to play.

Borussia Dortmund play in Germany in two weeks’ time and will face a much tougher test, with games against RB Leipzig, Club Brugge and Young Boys in Glasgow and away games against Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa.

A top eight finish would automatically give Celtic a place in the last 16, with the team finishing ninth to 24th going into a play-off match.

According to an analysis by Opta, 16 points would almost certainly secure a place in the top eight and 10 points would be good for a place in the play-offs.

“Our next three games are tough but exciting,” added Rodgers.

“We know it’s a long road, but the first steps are important and the steps we took tonight were fantastic.

“The supporters were sensational. We won the last game of the last campaign and the first of this one, so we are trying to make this place a fortress.”