“Most of the clubs outside the top five leagues that have made an impact at Champions League level are consistent qualifiers. If this were our fifth or sixth year of being in the competition then I would be having a different discussion with people.

“It’s all about perspective and what you’re trying to achieve. This is our first year back in five years and I haven’t faced a press conference yet where people have said we are out of our depth.

'The longer you’re in the competition the more opportunities you have to grow and make an impact. You’re not going to go in there for the first time and expect to dominate the most prestigious club competition in the world.'

“From our perspective, we have felt we have the right to be in this competition, and during it we know the areas we’ve come up short and they’re the areas we need to improve, but at no stage do I believe that we’ve looked out of place.”

The schedule of the Champions League and domestic calendar this season has been further intensified due to the upcoming World Cup.

The high intensity of games in such a short window is stretching squads throughout Europe, including at Celtic, as the manager admits it’s been a difficult period for his own players.

He added: “What you’re finding, and it’s not just our club, is that there’s a higher attrition rate because there’s usually a fortnight between Champions League games too.

“Our physical numbers from Tuesday night were very high in terms of our output because you’re playing against high-quality opposition so you have to work harder.

'The fact we’ve been going back-to-back, then even though we have no Champions League this week, we have a cup game in midweek.'

“You’re finding a rise in the number of injuries for clubs involved in this competition because of that. We want to play at the same level with the same tempo and intensity, but the players will at some stage break down if you keep doing that.”

This week also saw the news that VAR would be brought into Scottish football from next weekend, with Celtic’s first taste of the technology coming in next Saturday’s away trip to Hearts.

Of course, Celtic have been involved in European matches in this season and previous where it’s been used, and Ange Postecoglou thinks it's the right time to see it introduced.

“It’s come in everywhere else and I have experience with it in Japan, at international level, and we use it in European competitions, so it makes sense the league here follows suit,” he said.

“It doesn’t change anything from my perspective because I’ve not spent too much time worrying about decisions in a game because they’re outside my control.

“Hopefully it provides some clarity on key decisions and helps the referees out more than anything else because it’s more a tool for them than for managers or football clubs.”

Ange Postecoglou: We've shown we belong in the Champions League