Brendan: No excuses if Hoops fail to deliver...

when first-choice centre-back Erik Sviatchenko was ruled out as a result of the groin strain he suffered in training on Friday.

The loss of Sviatchenko has presented his manager with a selection dilemma – Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic are both unavailable due to injury while Kolo Toure is short of fitness and has not travelled.

Efe Ambrose, who was at fault for the only goal of the game in the embarrassing loss to semi-professional rivals Lincoln Red Imps in the first leg of the second qualifying round in Gibraltar, has repeatedly been shown to be unreliable.

Meanwhile, Eoghan O’Connell, who scored his first goal for Celtic in their pre-season friendly against Barclays Premier League winners Leicester City on Saturday, has only played in six competitive matches for the Scottish champions.

“Erik picked up a groin strain before the game at the weekend,” said Rodgers. “It’s not what we needed, especially with the other central defenders being out.

“But we have to cope. It was always going to be a difficult time with the qualifiers and the injuries. However, the players who have come in have been great. Young Eoghan has been excellent. He reads the game really well.

“You saw that at the weekend against Leicester. He’s only 20 but he has an in-built brain for football. He understands the game, he wants to defend and he passes it well.

“We also have players like Mikael Lustig, who was outstanding at the weekend. But the strength of us will always be the team anyway.

If Celtic lose to Astana and fail to qualify for the Champions League group stages for the third season running it would, after the exits of Hibs and Hearts to Brondby and Birkirkana respectively in the Europa League qualifying rounds, be the latest blow that Scottish football has suffered this summer.

However, Rodgers is positive his side can prevail and will refuse to use their extensive injury list, the synthetic surface the game is being played on, the temperature and humidity and time zone as excuses for a bad performance and result.

“In modern football, there are lots of reasons to be negative and if you breed that into players, it can give everyone an excuse,” he said.

“You have to be realistic and know that it’s difficult, but you also have to be positive. I could give you a pagelong list – them being midway through their season, the artificial pitch, the travel and everything else.

“But we want to qualify and we know these are the types of games we have to get through. We know there are plenty of excuses, but it’s not for us.”