MOUSSA DEMBELE accepts Celtic are only halfway to the Europa League last-16 following last night’s exciting 1-0 victory over Zenit St Petersburg.
Callum McGregor thumped in the winner 12 minutes from times after some brilliant lead-up play from Charly Musonda, Olivier Ntcham and the French striker.
Now the Hoops have it all to do again in Russia on Thursday.
Dembele said: “We have to stay focused and make sure we keep our concentration.
“The game is over two legs. We played the first leg at home and we have done the first part of our job, but there is still a lot to do.
“I was pleased for Callum. He took his goal really well, but it was a great team performance. We played really well.
“We have done what we set out to do in lots of ways this season. We wanted to be in Europe beyond Christmas and we have done that.
“Now we have a chance to go beyond that and that is what we want to do.
“We will attack and do what we can to score another goal over there, but we will also look to make sure that we defend the way that we did last night.
“We defended as a team and that is what we have to do at this level.”
Dembele added: “You always just have to keep going. I knew there would be more chances because of the way that we were playing.
“We were creating a lot and the most important thing is not who scores, but that the team wins the game.
“Now we must keep the lead and to qualify. You always have to keep calm. It is only one game, so it is important we keep going.
“It was important that we had a clean sheet and now we also have the goal, too. It gives us a chance and we will go there confident and looking forward to it.
“But first we have to look to the St Johnstone game and then we can start to think about finishing this.
“We will need the same kind of performance again over in Russia, but we are confident that we can do that.”
