Celtic produced a strong Europa League performance in the Czech Republic to beat FK Jablonec 4-2 and put them in a good position to progress to the next round of the competition.

For captain, Callum McGregor, the first competitive win of the new season will give the squad a boost, not only going into Sunday’s Premiership match against Dundee but for the weeks and months ahead.

First-half goals from new Bhoys, Liel Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi, were added to by further strikers in the second-half from James Forrest and Ryan Christie.

And speaking after the win in the Czech Republic, the Hoops skipper said: “Whenever you go away in Europe, teams will make it difficult for you and you’ve got to be strong mentally to get the result, and I thought the boys did that. There were some top quality goals in there as well to give us a good night.

“Liel has been excellent since he’s come in and that’s another goal for him. You can tell he’s playing with confidence as well. And Kyogo looked very lively – his first start and he gets his first goal as well.

'So as a forward player, getting on the scoresheet so early in their careers is great for the team, and for them as well.'

Celtic return to Paradise this Sunday when they play host to Dundee in front of a crowd of around 24,500 before the team can look forward to full houses in subsequent games, starting with the return leg against Jablonec next Thursday.

And Callum McGregor knows it’s important for the team to build on the positive result tonight.

“It just breeds confidence when you get wins,” he said. “A new group of players, coming together – they know they can get over the line and it’s a massive win for us, and it’s something we’ll look to progress on at the weekend as well.

“We win tonight, we go on Sunday and we put in a good performance. Everybody’s got good game-time as well – the team looks fit, it looks strong and full of confidence with the goals, so we now look to take that on.”

Callum McGregor: This win will breed confidence within the squad