After a disastrous four-day period which saw Celtic eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers and lose their opening Premiership match for the first time in 24 years,
their fans finally had something to cheer about on Thursday night, as they won 4-2 away at FK Baumit Jablonec in the first leg of their Europa League third-round qualifier.
First-half goals from summer signings Liel Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi were followed by second-half strikes by James Forrest and Ryan Christie, with the latter’s goal ensuring the Hoops take a two-goal cushion back to Glasgow for the second leg next week.
Under pressure to deliver immediate success at Parkhead, head coach Ange Postecoglou will be confident that his side can progress to the final playoff round, where they would face AZ Alkmaar. Failing to do so, however, would see them demoted to the inaugural Europa Conference League.
Celtic now briefly turn their attention back to the Premiership, where they suffered a 2-1 defeat to newly-promoted Hearts on the opening weekend.
They face another side, in the form of Dundee on Sunday, who have come up from the Championship and Postecoglou will be keen to get off the mark with a win as Hoops boss, potentially in front of a full capacity crowd at Parkhead.
Celtic are unbeaten in each of their last 36 meetings against the Dark Blues, so they will certainly fancy their chances of claiming all three points this weekend, though improvements in defence are required if they are to build a platform for success.
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Including pre-season friendlies, the Hoops have conceded in eight of their nine matches this season, letting in a total of 16 goals. Postecoglou will be hoping that the additions of defender Carl Starfelt and goalkeeper Joe Hart can strengthen their backline going forward.
Dundee managed to secure a point in their first game back in the top-flight, after playing out an entertaining 2-2 draw at home against St Mirren last weekend.
Eamonn Brophy’s fourth-minute opener was cancelled out on the stroke of half time when Joe Shaughnessy diverted the ball into his own net. Jamie McGrath then converted from the penalty spot nine minutes after the restart before Dundee scored their second equaliser through substitute Jason Cummings.
