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

“We played well in the first half, got the early goal, had other more opportunities to be more clinical, but I just felt we were taking one touch too many.

“We reiterated we don’t need to do anything special, we just have to be us. Just don’t overthink it.

“The razzmatazz around the Champions League is amazing, but we are playing a team who are defending in 4-4-2, which we will play against here in the league. OK it’s different tiers, but it’s still the same idea.

“You could see right from the off in the second half, the players were absolutely sensational. We could’ve had more than five.”

It was a splendid start to the expanded 36-team, one league, tournament for Celtic, who will play seven further matches.

Borussia Dortmund are up next in Germany in two weeks, and will pose a far stiffer test, before matches against RB Leipzig, Club Brugge and Young Boys in Glasgow and trips to face Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa.

A top-eight finish would earn Celtic an automatic last-16 place, with a play-off the prize for team who end up between ninth and 24th place.

According to analysis by Opta, 16 points would almost certainly secure a top-eight place and 10 would be good enough for a play-off spot.

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

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

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