Celtic’s pre-season preparations in terms of training and matches have all been geared towards being ready for their first competitive match of the new campaign.

That is now almost upon the team, with Danish side, FC Midtjylland, the visitors to Celtic Park on Tuesday night for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round tie.

The final warm-up to that vital match was a friendly against Preston North End. It was Ange Postecoglou’s first experience of Paradise since taking over as manager, with 2,000 supporters also allowed inside the stadium to cheer on the team.

And although the match ended in a disappointing 1-0 defeat for the Hoops, the manager’s focus has immediately turned towards Tuesday night’s European qualifier.

Speaking to Celtic TV after the game, Ange Postecoglou said: “I can’t fault the players’ work-rate and their physical condition is getting better because they’re working hard. Thankfully we didn’t get any injuries tonight because that was a bit of a blow in the last game because we lost a couple of players.

“So from that perspective, we’re building towards a good fitness level. Today maybe helped us a little bit towards that, but we needed more than that.

“Hopefully we’ll get a couple back for Tuesday night. They were close today but we erred on the side of caution to leave them out, but it’s a very young group at the moment that we’re throwing out there. It’s no secret that we need to bring some players in and we’re working hard to do that.

“We’ll have training tomorrow for a few of the guys who missed out today and hopefully they’ll get through that unscathed. Then we’ll have a look at the team for Tuesday and we’ve got to be ready.”

Ange Postecoglou: We need to be ready for Euro qualifier