This represents the ultimate acid test for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic. A Champions League league phase outing against a European heavyweight in one of club football's iconic arenas.

A year ago a match of such magnitude against the 2024 beaten Champions League finalists would have filled those of a green-and-white hue with utter dread. Not anymore. Rodgers insists this is the night when his Celtic team can finally elevate their game to another level. As the Irishman is prone to say: 'That is the plan.'

A feel-good factor and confidence is coursing through this Celtic team and manager. Rodgers trusts his players implicitly. Domestically they have been imperious, so far. The $64,000 question now is can they deliver on the biggest club stage of them all?

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Rodgers said: "I think for us it's looking to bring our game to the next level. I think how we've been performing over probably the last six or seven months has just been increasing. Now we've come to this level and we're under no illusions about what.

"We're playing against a team that is challenging the very top end of elite football. But for us, I've always said, whether it's domestically or whether it's away in this competition, it's making us a really difficult team to play against with and without the ball. So for us, that's what we want to be able to do. I'm not looking for perfection, I'm just looking for us to be really difficult to play against and give everything we have.

“We need to bring our game, which is to press, to fight, to run. We know at times that quality drives you back and then it's having that resilience in those moments. We also know that we have a game that can hurt teams as well, with our football and our speed. So I'm really excited about seeing that.

"Is this an acid test for my players? Yeah, absolutely. I think this level is as much about the head as it is about skill. I think this is bringing a mentality to this level and I think that's what I'm looking forward to seeing. Bringing that quality that we show domestically and being able to take it out into this amazing arena and playing with that confidence. I think that the mindset at this level is just as important. and playing with that belief and that courage.

"I don't doubt that. I don't doubt that with this team and what I've seen now over a period of time. It's something that we'll know we'll have to face stress in the game and face pressure but that happens to even the very best teams. For us, it's transferring that game model that we see week to week and that we've seen in the first leg of the Champions League or the first game. If we can do that, we can be a really difficult team to play against.

"I think we're arriving at a great place. Again, I track it back to pre-season. The games that we played there, we built up pre-season with some big teams and we were able to look at certain aspects of how we wanted to play at this level. I was very, very pleased with what I've seen and that has just continued right the way through.

"So to come here, it's a great opportunity for us and I'm excited by that.”

Some 81,000 partisan fans complete with 'The Yellow Wall' will try and roar Nuri Sahin's team home in this one. Conversely, the 51-year-old reckons that nights like these are to be savoured and that the atmosphere could well bring the best out of his charges. Rodgers said: “I think games like this are something that you have to cherish and live it. Sometimes that's difficult when you're playing because you're so focused on the game.

"For us, we will play for the dreams of the supporters. The supporters are travelling out here in the thousands and we play for ourselves to go and enjoy this experience. It's a wonderful arena, go and embrace it. Go and cherish these big games and let's see where it takes us. We'll come in after the game. If we've done that and we've given everything and we play with the spirit that we have done and you don't quite get the result, then as long as you've run and you've fought and you've played and you've pressed and you've attacked, you can do no more than that.

"The game is about levels and tiers and I'm just interested to see us competing at this level.”

The only perceived negative for Celtic is that Cameron-Carter-Vickers has been ruled out with a toe injury which means that compatriot Auston Trusty will make his first Champions League start for the Scottish champions. Rodgers said: "Cameron Carter-Vickers is not available. We'll see what he's like going into next weekend but he's not here for this one.

“He's a top-class player for us. He's missed a little bit of Champions League football in his time. Five of the 12 games that the club has played, he's unfortunately not been able to play in. But yes, we've got other players. It's always an opportunity for someone else to come in and hopefully, we can get Cam back sooner rather than later. We can't overthink it. We will rely on a collective. There's not one player that brings our results and how we've been this season.

"Of course, Cam is a very important player for us but to get a result here it will be all about the collective.”

In the past, Celtic have suffered at the elite level and failed to transition their dominant domestic game into the European arena. There's something entirely different this time surrounding Celtic and the Champions League. The mood music and mindset are different for a start. Rodgers said: "Yes, that's what you're trying to build upon. After this campaign, it will continue to build. I feel very good going into our first game, feeling that we've got certain attributes and facets within the team that maybe we haven't had.

"Part of that being the preparation going into it. So I feel in a really good place with the squad. Just because you bring in one or two players doesn't mean you're going to win the thing. It certainly allows us to be competitive and that's what we want to see over the course of this campaign, that we can make that step from qualification and participating into competing at this level.

"What I've seen from the mindset of our players and how we've produced at our performance level, that's what we aim to do."

Rodgers is not one for making bold statements. If Celtic can win in the Signal Iduna Park Stadium tonight the rest of European football will be forced to sit up and take notice.

Victory in the cauldron of Dortmund will be enough of a statement that no words will be required.