Celtic winger Shaun Maloney insists his side’s Europa League match against Hamburg at Parkhead on Thursday is important, but it is not the end of their qualification chances should they fail to take all three points.
Tony Mowbray's team have had a stuttering start to their European campaign, blowing a lead in Israel to lose 2-1 to Hapoel Tel-Aviv and then drawing 1-1 at home to Rapid Vienna.
Despite only having one point to their credit with two games gone, Maloney says that the pressure isn't on for the Hoops to secure a big win over the Bundesliga joint leaders.
“I don’t think it is win or bust," said Maloney. "There are three games after this, but it’s a pretty big game and one that after our last home result against Rapid [Vienna], a win would be massive."
The state of the Scottish game is once again under the spotlight after Rangers' shock 4-1 home defeat to Romanian champions Unirea on Tuesday. With the attention now on Celtic's European performance, Maloney maintained that the primary target for his team is to get a result and not to provide a boost for Scottish football.
"It is about our own group at the moment, with the way results have been going," he said. "It would be obviously great for Scottish football if we did get a win against a really good side though, so fingers crossed."
Despite Celtic’s poor away record in European competition, Maloney is confident they can pick up points on the road if needed in games against Rapid Vienna and in the return match with Hamburg in two weeks time.
“We dropped points in the league and obviously the last game in Europe and it’s not something we would have hoped for," said Maloney.
“We still believe we can pick up points away from home if need be. We hope we can towards the end of the group.”
