CELTIC defender Greg Taylor insists there is no room for error ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash against Latvian side Riga - and revealed that Neil Lennon has left his players in no uncertain terms about how important European football is to the Parkhead club.
The Scottish champions were on the receiving end of a shock defeat when they crashed out of the Champions League qualifying rounds at the hands of Ferencvaros.
Taylor says he and his team-mates are determined to ensure that history does not repeat itself in Latvia tomorrow night, and added that Celtic will be taking their opponents seriously.
Speaking to the club's website, he said: "The gaffer’s stressed that it’s extremely important that we progress to the next round. We want European football this season.
"It was disappointing to go out of the Champions League qualification but we’re in the Europa League now and our aim is to qualify for the group stage.
"There’s never complacency within our squad. We’re fully focused on the next match at every time. At a club this size, it’s important to win every match and Thursday is no different.
"We know it’s going to be a tough game and it won’t be easy. The onus is on us to put on a performance and do what we need to do to get the win."
Tomorrow's game will be played behind closed doors once again and the return of supporters to stadia - in Scotland at least - looks a very distant prospect.
It would be understandable if some footballers struggled to adapt to the new conditions and motivate themselves, but Taylor reckons Celtic have two men in the dressing room that will ensure the players are up for the challenge no matter what: Neil Lennon and Scott Brown.
He continued: "Everyone misses the fans. You’ve probably seen from the results in the league that there hasn’t been any sort of home or away advantage. It’s certainly a leveller without fans.
"We’re lucky that we have Broony as the captain, he’s a great motivator. We all have our own self-motivation but with Broony and the gaffer, we have great motivators there. There’s no lack of motivation within our squad."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here