IT is something of an understatement to say this season has not gone quite as Astra Giurgiu had planned it.

After winning the Romanian Cup in May, the wish of owner Ioan Niculae and president Dinu Gheorghe was for the team to now make a sustained challenge for the league title. It was not an unrealistic aim given they had finished second in Divizie A last year, just five points behind the champions Steaua Bucharest.

In contrast, European football did not feature prominently in their plans. That was perhaps surprising given this is only their second season of continental football and that their maiden campaign last year was far from a disaster as they battled through three Europa League qualifying rounds only to fall at the final hurdle, losing out 3-1 on aggregate to Maccabi Haifa in the play-off round.

Winning their domestic cup allowed them to enter the competition in the third qualifying round this time around but expectations remained low, especially when their defeat of the Czechs Slovan Liberec left them paired with Olympique Lyonnais in the play-off round. Astra were given little hope of defeating the French behemoths but a 2-1 win in Lyon followed by a 1-0 defeat at home took them to the group stage via the away goals rule. It was quite a coup, especially given the disquiet prevalent in the dressing room following the alleged non-payment of promised bonuses.

Confidence duly boosted by the victory over Lyon, president Gheorghe watched as his team came out the hat with Red Bull Salzburg, Celtic and Dinamo Zagreb and felt it could have been a lot worse. When you have beaten a team like Lyon, then perhaps anything seems possible. "I don't know if it will be five, six, eight or 10 but we will take points, you'll see," was Gheorge's take on Group D.

To borrow from the lexicon of cricket, they are yet to trouble the scorers. A 5-1 walloping by Zagreb was followed by a 2-1 loss to Salzburg which leaves Astra bottom of the pile and not in a great position to make it out of the group. Their forthcoming double-header against Celtic - the first at Parkhead this evening, with the return on November 6 - will go a long way in shaping the fortunes of both clubs.

Whether distracted by the demands of European football or not, there has been little joy domestically to ease the pain. Astra sit fourth in the table after 10 games, that poor start - relatively speaking - having cost the manager Daniel Isaila his job. Given that he had only been appointed to the post in May, it was an act that demonstrated the lack of tolerance behind the scenes. His successor, the Ukrainian Oleg Protasov, will be fully aware of the demands now expected of him. A heavy defeat tonight and he may not be around for the next game.

Astra have at least been boosted by the inclusion of the Ghanaian midfielder Seidu Yahaya and the Nigerian forward Kehinde Fatai in the squad. The pair had been denied visas to enter Britain and did not fly with the team to Glasgow on Tuesday. With help from officials from Celtic and UEFA, however, the pair completed the necessary paperwork to jet in yesterday.

Celtic may come to regret having shown the hand of friendship on this one. Fatai is seen as a very capable centre-forward, albeit one who has struggled with injuries and periods of inconsistency. When fit and in form, he is a devastatingly quick, skilful and entertaining forward who spent last season on loan with Club Brugge in Belgium. Having spent the best part of the last decade living in Romania, the 24-year-old was at one point tipped for an international call-up for his adopted homeland only for FIFA to pour cold water on the proposals.

Astra will also need Constantin Budescu to be on his game if they are to trouble Celtic. A classy No.10 who pitches in with regular goals, the 25-year-old has faced criticism in the past for having trouble with his weight but is still considered one of the country's most skilful players.

Former manager Isaila was wed to a 4-2-3-1 system and, after just one match, it seems as if Protasov plans on adopting a similar set-up. Should Fatai be deemed not fit enough to start, Auerlian Chitu, a winger traditionally, may be asked to perform at the apex of the system, just as he did in last weekend's 1-1 draw with Medias for Protasov's debut.