ASK Kris Commons his target for 2012-13, and the reply is "two goals".
The Celtic player's self-deprecation is a nod to his near-barren tally last term but he would acknowledge the description also sums up the ambition of Neil Lennon's side this season.
In the absence of Rangers, the "bread-and-butter" priority is retaining the SPL title. However, what really heightens the appetite around Celtic Park is the prospect of Champions League nights to sustain the public, and the players.
To reach the group stage, Celtic must overcome HJK Helsinki in the third qualifying round, followed by the play-offs before the end of August. The Finnish champions will be in Glasgow on Wednesday for the first leg, fresh from a 9-1 aggregate thrashing of KR Reykjavik, dipping a toe in the sort of prolific waters that Commons used to enjoy.
The 28-year-old Scotland midfielder found the net 14 times in half a season for Celtic after he joined in January 2011 from Derby County. He spent a lot of last season injured or on the bench, netting a solitary goal, and he had to wait until April 29 for it, although scoring in the 3-0 win over Rangers in the last Old Firm derby for quite some time will earn him a slice of history.
"For a club like Celtic, Europe is always important," Commons said. "Those are the nights you get geared up for. The Europa League and Champions League, especially at Celtic Park, are the ones you want to be involved in. There is a big onus on us to produce on Wednesday night.
"You look first to your domestic campaign, and want to win the league and all the cups, then try to progress as far as you can in Europe. Hopefully we can reach the Champions League group stage. We want to be involved in that level and get more experience to try to give the fans something to look forward to. They love European nights."
Commons was speaking after the final workout before yesterday's prestige friendly with Inter Milan, which Lennon will use to fine tune his game plan for HJK. The Celtic manager kept his players back for a talk, the squad sitting on the pitch at Lennoxtown as he underlined that teams such as Inverness Caledonian Thistle require the same sweat and attention as Inter.
"The manager made it clear that the Premier League is the most important thing," said Commons. "However, Wednesday will be a big game for a lot of players. It is make or break for the European campaign and will let us see where we are on a European level and whether we are good enough.
"All of our pre-season has been geared for this game. Everything has been put in place. The opposition that we've faced, the sort of training, it has all been geared towards us getting into the group stage of the Champions League.
"If we manage to get past HJK, we will still have a tough game in the next round. However, the Champ-ions League is where everyone wants to play. It is the biggest competition in football, so for the players it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grasp and play against the best."
While Lennon's team are still six days away from launching the defence of their title, at home to Aberdeen, HJK are in the middle of their domestic season, which helped Antti Muurinen's side secure a 7-0 rout when Icelandic champions KR went to Helsinki in the last round.
"It will be vital to take a clean sheet to Helsinki and hopefully get one or two goals here," Commons said. "I have yet to see any analysis from our scouting team. On Monday and Tuesday we will get plenty of time to see DVD footage. Scoring seven goals shows they are no pushover. It will be a tough test for us."
With HJK defeating German club Schalke 2-0 on their own patch last season in the Europa League, there is no room for underestimation. The same applies to a Rangers-free SPL.
"Everyone is dangerous on their day," said Commons. "We just scraped through at St Mirren last season and Hearts beat us, so there are potential banana skins everywhere. The hard part of trying to win the title is grinding out results all over the country, week in, week out. However, with Rangers not involved, we will be looking to win every single game."
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