ERIK SVIATCHENKO has promised Celtic will be 100 per cent prepared as they launch their Champions League bid.
The Hoops, under new manager Brendan Rodgers, will start at the second qualifying stage this year, looking to return to the group stages after a two-year absence under Ronny Deila.
They will take on either FC Flora Talinn, of Estonia, or Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps with those two sides meeting in the first qualifying round.
The five-in-a-row champions are, of course, expected to overcome either of them with a degree of ease and make it into the third qualifying round of the competition.
The fixtures present a problem, though, given how early in the season they are, but Sviatchenko has promised that they will be fully prepared and good to go.
He insisted: “We know we need to win the games and we will be ready, but now we have some tough pre-season times coming up and we’ll be 100 per cent ready.”
The Danish international defender made a good first impression at the club after his January arrival and he is another who will be hoping to impress the new gaffer early in the season.
