It is no surprise that Celtic centre-back Trusty considers the visit to Croatia especially “important” for the Glasgow club.
“Every game is huge,” he said. “We trust in ourselves and our ability. We know the power we possess and it really is in our hands.
“We can compete with anyone. When we are in this and playing our game, I think we have shown you, but also ourselves, that we can play.
“I think we have a lot of confidence in any game, whether it’s the league or the Champions League, so we’re in a good position.”
Who would have thought after matchday two, when Celtic suffered a 7-1 humiliation at Borussia Dortmund, that they would now be unbeaten in their last three Champions League games?
To put that into perspective, their last unbeaten run was in 2012, spread over two campaigns, and they are unbeaten in five of those home games, having lost eight of the previous nine at Celtic Park.
It is no surprise that Johnston sees it as “definitely a step up” from last season, when Celtic finished fourth in their group behind Atletico Madrid, Lazio and Feyenoord in Rodgers’ first season as manager.
“I think we’ve matured,” he said. “I think that comes from the fact that it is now the second year with Brendan. There is a lot more comfort in the system and in the players. They all know their roles very well.
“Those results we got at the beginning of the campaign have really given us confidence that when things get difficult, we can defend in a 4-4-2 block. We can overcome those difficult moments. We can also use this ground for our advantage and play fluid and offensive football.
“We don’t need to be afraid to be who we are. That’s something we’ve definitely shown this year and learned. It’s definitely a step up from last year.”
With a home game against a Young Boys side who sit bottom of the table without a point before visiting Villa Park, Johnston believes Celtic are in a strong position to at least reach the play-off stage.
In fact, he praised the team’s resilience after recovering from centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers’ own goal to draw level with the impressive Belgian champions.
“I think we’ve shown, especially here at Celtic Park, that we can be a really difficult team to beat, so it’s important that we keep that confidence and not let that get to us,” he said. “I think we showed that we weren’t really moved given the way we performed in the second half.”
Johnston expects “a difficult atmosphere” in Zagreb against a team that is one place and one point behind.
“At the same time, we can take advantage of what we have done in previous away games, like Atalanta, where we can go to these difficult pitches, attack and hopefully get another result. If we do that, we will leave ourselves in a very good position.” position,” he added.
