This coming week, Celtic face off against Dutch opposition in AZ Alkmaar as both sides are set to battle it out for a place in the Europa League over two legs.

The Hoops face a tough test ahead, with Alkmaar having an impressive season in the Dutch Eredivisie last campaign, which has helped see them through to this stage of qualifying.

In recent weeks though, several of those players who played a key part in the season have recently departed the club, which could mean Celtic faces a new look Alkmaar side.

As quoted by the Daily Record, despite this, Alkmaar boss Pascal Jensen has insisted he won’t be using this as an excuse when facing up against Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side.

He said: “Of course we have lost a lot of very good players, but that’s football.

“You have to deal with this as a manager.

“We need to find new players to replace them, but over the years, that’s what AZ have shown to be very good at.

“Last week, I was able to use 20 players in a pre-season friendly – players which many a manager would be jealous of having in their team.

“We remain an ambitious club – we want to have a good run in Europe, and our aim is a top-four place in the league, same as it always is.

“There will be pressure that comes with those aims, but we thrive on that.”

In recent years, Celtic fans have come accustomed to that sort of feeling ahead of European qualifiers.

Jensen has seen three of his key players depart with the club selling Calvin Stengs to Nice, Myron Boadu to Monaco and Marco Bizot to Brest, which has thought to have brought in around £35 million.

Some Celtic fans may see this as a positive that our opposition has lost some key players ahead of this play-off tie. However, Alkmaar will still be a dangerous opponent and tough test, who cannot be underestimated if we want to advance to the group stages of the Europa League.