Allan Kuhn, the Aalborg stand-in manager, last night dismissed the quality of Scottish football and pointed to some defensive weaknesses in the Celtic team as he threatened to send them crashing out of the Champions League tonight.

The Scottish champions arrived in Denmark having won their last 11 SPL games in a row as they continue their quest for their fourth title in succession.

However, the Parkhead side's form away from home in the Champions League is less impressive, both this season and in the recent past, as they have picked up only one out of a possible 51 points away from Glasgow in the group stages of the competition.

If they are to progress to the last-16 in the competition for a third successive season Celtic need a win and some help from Manchester United, while a draw is the minimum requirement to retain hope of a consolation place in the UEFA Cup.

Kuhn had Celtic watched in their 3-1 win over St Mirren at Love Street on Saturday but he insists the formality of that victory failed to hide some fundamental defensive problems.

"St Mirren were the better team in the first half but Celtic were better in the second half," he said. "But it was a Scottish game and Celtic are nearly always the winner there, except when they meet Rangers.

"They have more national players but I don't think they are a better team than us.

"Celtic will always get results in Scotland but it will be a difficult match for them against us in the Champions League.

"We are at home and in the last five years we have lost two European matches here, to Getafe and Manchester United.

"So we are a strong team at home in European competition.

"It is difficult to talk about weaknesses in a team but one thing I have noticed about Celtic is that they concede goals. It is not every game that they keep a clean sheet.

"So I'm sure we can score goals against them and that will be important, because we have to win the match."

Thomas Augustinussen, the Aalborg captain, who stressed that the Danish side had improved since the goalless draw in Glasgow on match day one, also pinpointed the Celtic defence as their weak spot.

He said: "Celtic are strong but we are strong too, and we are a better team now than when we met them in the first game in Glasgow.

"The last time we were okay so I have a lot of confidence for this game. We are a better team, we are better organised with a better defence.

"I think we can get through them. We have worked a lot in the last month and we have been playing much better.

"We believe so much in ourselves now and believe that we can beat every team we meet.

"If we do our jobs, like we did against Villarreal here and when we played in Scotland, then we have a good chance."

However, the midfielder Kasper Risgaard was somewhat less confident and played down Celtic's poor away form. The 25-year-old has admitted his side are feeling confident and have the potential to cause an upset but he believes the Parkhead side's Champions League experience could prove vital.

Risgaard said: "It is clear that Celtic are still favourites for the match. They have played in the Champions League several times, and they have been in this situation several times, so it will be an intense battle.

"But we have been playing well recently and that gives us a great belief that we can beat Celtic."

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