ANALYSING your fate after a Champions League draw is a bit like dining out of an evening – no matter how appetising your selection appears you can’t help but look enviously at the other tables. In Celtic’s case the dilemma following Thursday’s razzamatazz on the Riviera centred on whether a group filled with glamour ties trumps one with lesser names but where the chance of progressing to the knock-out phase is significantly greater.

Those who favour the former – taking the view that from pot four Celtic would not be expected to make it out of any group regardless of the opposition – could not have asked for more. There was a slight weariness at drawing Barcelona for the third time in succession but, that minor grumble aside, landing the Spanish champions always stirs the senses. Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola on board, will deliver two enthralling “Battle of Britain” encounters, while German opposition in the shape of Borussia Monchengladbach is also an attractive proposition.

The general consensus, however, is that such an outcome presents Celtic with only the slimmest of chances of surviving in the competition beyond Christmas. Even finishing third and tumbling into the Europa League will not be easy. There is an argument that, for clubs like Celtic, reaching the Champions League group stage is an achievement in itself. But the lustre could soon fade if Brendan Rodgers’ side find themselves on the wrong end of one heavy defeat after another.

The victory over Barcelona in 2012 will stand as the oft-cited example that even the tallest of giants can be toppled on any given day, but this is a draw that would have sent a scowl spreading across the forehead of those pragmatists who favour results over the experience.

Celtic were the last team to be pulled out of the hat. It gave them the opportunity to eye up every other pot-four placing and wish that had been their destiny instead. Would Group G – with newcomers Leicester City plus Porto and Brugge – have given them a better chance of finishing in the top two? Or Group B with Benfica, Napoli and Dynamo Kiev? Considering that on each of the three occasions that Celtic have qualified for the last 16 they had the Portuguese club in their group, that might have made for a nice portent. The hypothesising, however, is now redundant. It is what it is. Now Rodgers and Celtic have to make the most of it.

“There were three groups there which weren’t that strong,” said defender Mikael Lustig. “Obviously it’s still the Champions League so it’s never easy, but there are couple of groups, including ours, which are so strong. It’s a really, really tough group. We just feel now like we have nothing to lose over six games.

“You always know your opponent [before any game], but with these ones you can’t switch off for a second. The times when we’ve played them before, if you do switch off they score in the blink of an eye. It’s such a different kind of game and after it you’re tired mentally as you have to concentrate so much. But we’re in the best tournament so you’re going to face the best players.”

Rodgers is another who has weighed it all up and decided there is little point either making bold proclamations or hiding under the bed in fear.

“For me, the objective is to do the very best you can,” the manager said. “There is no shame in doing your best. You just never know what will happen. We understand it is going to be incredibly difficult. But as a coach it’s brilliant because you have different challenges to navigate your way through. We’ll look to try to find a way to gain something from the games. You have to really go and enjoy them. That’s the message. There’s nothing to lose. You want to do your very best and have no fear. Take on the challenge and embrace it.”

The prospect of testing himself against Guardiola’s current project and the one that helped make his name is particularly alluring to Rodgers. Like many coaches making their way in the game, he credits the Catalan’s time at Barcelona as influential in his nascent development and remains curious to witness how Guardiola has also shaped City in his short time there.

“I’m a big fan of his,” Rodgers said. “Barcelona as a club played a big part in my development as a coach, looking at their infrastructure and that joined-up thinking from the youth levels right through.

“He’s ingrained in that. You go back to when [Johan] Cruyff first went over and imposed a style that lasts to this very day. Guardiola was obviously a disciple of his. I admired his work there hugely, and his bravery as a coach. He’s definitive and clear about how he wants to work. It’s not the right way or the wrong way – it’s his way.

“He did that at a club he knew inside out, in Barcelona, to great success. He then went to Bayern Munich and was able to impose a different idea of how to work on top-level players. Now he’ll look to do the same at Manchester City. I haven’t met him, but I know his brother very well. He is a nice guy and is [Luis] Suarez’s agent. We’ll look forward to that game when it comes around.”

Rodgers is similarly trying to gradually impose an unfamiliar philosophy on a new group of players. It may take some time. He is continuing to try to tweak Craig Gordon’s style of play so the goalkeeper becomes more comfortable with the ball at his feet, something that would allow Celtic to move forward in possession at their own pace. “I always think the quicker the ball goes forward, the quicker it comes back,” reasoned the manager.

Gordon has been criticised in recent weeks for some of the goals Celtic have conceded – and paid for it with his place in the team for yesterday’s encounter with Aberdeen – but Rodgers believes that in the Scotland international he has someone he can still mould to his taste.

He said: “I felt for Craig. I haven’t seen so much [of the criticism], but I’m aware there has been a little bit of that. He’s a good guy. He’s definitely a player I want to have around here as he does his very best. He’s understood what I want from a goalkeeper because my goalkeepers need to be able to control the game from behind.

“If you don’t have control in your build-up, then it’s very difficult to have control anywhere else on the field, so the control element is import- ant and he’s tried to embrace that. He’s 33 years of age. He could have just stuck to his own idea of playing but he’s tried to take on board how I’ve wanted to work and he’s given everything to try to play the way I want him to play. So I’ve found him a really good guy, conscientious, he wants to work and of course if a goalkeeper does make a mistake they feel isolated a wee bit. But I have nothing but admiration for him.

“A lot of British goalkeepers, and not just him, are used to getting rid of the ball instead of passing it and there’s a huge difference. But you can still learn no matter what age you are to be better and I can see in his distribution he’s looking to find different lines of pass.”