Brendan Rodgers calls for calm from Celtic in Champions League tie

Brendan Rodgers has called for calm as Celtic look to secure a place in the play-off round of the Champions League qualifiers.

The Scottish title holders go into the return leg of their tie with Kazakh side Astana with a slight advantage after Leigh Griffiths' away goal gave them a 1-1 draw in the first game last week.

Winning will guarantee progression to the final stage of the preliminaries as Celtic look to reach the group phase for the first time since 2013.

The club's absence from the main draw in recent seasons has heightened the desire to get back to that level but Rodgers wants composure from his players.

He said: "To qualify into the Champions League is a goal that we set at the start of the season but you have to stay calm.

"We have to stay calm. There will be a lot of hysteria around but as manager and coaches and players you have to have that calmness to allow you to fulfil the abilities that you have.

"We have put in a lot of work and what gives us the confidence is that we are working relentlessly with the team, analysing the opponents.

"We are on the training field as long as we possibly can, we are speaking to players, we are reviewing games, training situations.

"That hard work gives us confidence that the players can be prepared as best they possibly could so that is how we are approaching it. We understand the magnitude of it.

"Tomorrow night we aim to show that it is our pitch. We have to own the pitch and we need to get the result and that will be the idea for this home game and all of our home games this season."

Kolo Toure is set to make his Celtic debut and Rodgers is adamant fielding the former Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool player will not be a risk.

Toure arrived in Glasgow lacking fitness as he joined up with the squad well into pre-season and missed the 3-1 weekend defeat to Barcelona in the International Champions Cup.

But Rodgers added: "He has trained well since he has come in. We left him behind at the weekend to continue with that and I am confident he can play a part in the game tomorrow.

"If I feel he can start in the game and he is ready, I will have no problem playing him. I wouldn't think it would be gamble, we are just assessing fitness at the moment.

"He is super-experienced. Kolo has had a great impact already in the short period of time he has had here but you also have to try to apply a little bit of common sense to it,

"He has only been in the building a short period of time but I have no doubt his experience somewhere in the game can be required, if I felt that he wasn't ready to start."