Everyone at Celtic should ignore talk of a “crisis” at Zagreb.

Today, as with the last couple of weeks, there are a lot of stories in the media relating to the crisis at Zagreb. I’m not paying a single bit of attention to any of it. I don’t take that stuff seriously. We’ve heard this before with other clubs we’ve played in Europe, and even about teams we’ve faced domestically, and it’s not turned out to be true. It’s clear they’re not playing well domestically, but I don’t consider that a reliable barometer for how they’ll perform in Europe.

Nobody at Celtic will be suckered into thinking this is going to be an easy game.

They’re not going to be an uneasy opponent. They proved at home that they are a very formidable team in this competition, and we will treat them with the utmost seriousness and respect. You have to remember that the points we’ve put on the board so far have earned us more money in Champions League prize cash than we get for winning the Scottish Premier League.

The same will almost certainly be the case for Zagreb, and if people at that club have decided to prioritise Europe over their domestic campaign, I can understand why.

I’m not saying that’s the case, but we have to consider it as a possibility—that they’re focused on Europe to the detriment of their domestic form. I’ve seen this happen before. It happened with Eintracht Frankfurt when they won the Europa League against our friends across the city, there was all sorts of talk about how terrible their domestic form was.

In truth, it was because their club had made a conscious decision to give everything in pursuit of going as far as they could in European football. It paid off because they won the competition and got automatic entry into the following year’s Champions League.

Zagreb won’t win the Champions League, but the further they go in the competition, the better they’ll do, and the more points they’ll earn. That will give them more money to mount their challenges next season. I could very well understand if they’re prioritising Europe over domestic form for the moment.

And it’s only a handful of games in which they haven’t won. Seven matches without a victory might look like a crisis, but it’s the kind of form we’ve seen turned around before. So, while their club is projecting this idea that they’re in a crisis, I don’t buy it.

I’m equally suspicious about the talk of injuries.

Yes, there are a couple of their players who are out, but the claim that they’re in the midst of an injury crisis is preposterous. I don’t think anyone at Celtic will be fooled by it. We have to approach this game as if we’re playing a top-tier team. They’re playing at home, and home form in this competition is always critical. Home form in this competition is everything, and they’ve shown themselves to be pretty formidable in front of their own fans and on their own ground.

The key thing here is not to be lulled by this, not to be soothed or conned by it, but to prepare as if we were facing a top-five nation side. We must anticipate an aggressive, tough opponent who will push us from the first whistle to the last.

We will have to organise very well, be aggressive ourselves, and take our chances when they come. I thought there were points yesterday where we were very wasteful in front of goal, and we certainly cannot afford that against Zagreb. There were also moments where the defence was exposed, and we definitely cannot afford that either.

If we treat this game and this team seriously, we have a good chance of getting a result. If we get a result, we’re set. We’ll go into the final home game in great shape, having probably already secured our qualification for the knockout round, and with a chance to do it in some style.

If we win the last home game, it will put us on a really good points total, giving us a strong position in the group and possibly even a seeded slot.

Our approach has to be perfect, and that starts with zoning out all talk that we’re facing a team in crisis. We cannot treat them as if they are, and I have no doubt that Rodgers will be putting that message across to the players. Don’t believe a word of it.