CRAIG Gordon and his team-mates are anticipating a tough game against Swedish side, AIK, tonight (Thursday) in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off. But the Hoops goalkeeper insists that the team will be doing everything they can in both games against their opponents to ensure European football up until at least Christmas.

"Speaking ahead of the game, Gordon said: "We want to win the next two games against AIK and be in the group stages. It’s still a big competition with a lot of very good teams, and even in the draw to get to the group stages of the competition, there’s some very good teams.

"It’s one where we want to do as well as we possibly can. We want to get to the group stages and try and go as far as we can. We have a very difficult tie to even get to the group stages and one where we’ll have to give our full attention

“When you’re at Celtic there’s a pressure and you have to perform in every game. If that doesn’t happen then there is going to be some criticism. We just need to stick together as a team, get through that and show what we’re capable of. If we put on good performances out on that pitch, then I’m sure everyone will get behind us.

“There’s no better feeling than when the fans are on side and cheering us on to victories, especially on European nights. We want to play as well as we can for them and get them behind us so we can push on and have a successful season.”

The 36-year-old added that Celtic’s experience will be vital over the two legs as they gear up to overcome a strong opposition.

“We have an experienced squad,” said Gordon. “We have had the highs and lows of qualifying and not qualifying. Some years we haven’t managed to do it but have still had very successful seasons. We know what we have to do and we’ll be focused on trying to do that now.

“We’ve done our preparations. We know we’re in for a very difficult game. There are some good quality players in the team that we’ll have to keep an eye on. I played with Seb Larsson when I was Sunderland so I know all about his qualities, especially from dead balls so it’s something we’ll have to be wary off.”

Gordon: With fans behind us, we can deliver positive result