NIR BITTON insists Celtic cannot use Qarabag’s dodgy pitch as a Champions League excuse tomorrow night.

The Hoops will find out today just how bad the surface is at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, and if it is going to be a factor in the second leg.

But the Israeli, who is hoping to recover from an ankle knock in time for tomorrow night's third qualifying round second-leg tie, believes Celtic – who lead 1-0 after last week's Parkhead clash – should finish off the job in Azerbaijan.

When it was put to him that the supporters would not see the pitch as an excuse, Bitton said: “We won’t accept that either. There are no excuses for us. We just need to go through, and to do that we need to play our game.

“We will be playing in the same conditions as Qarabag. The most important thing for us is that we keep the clean sheet that we need to go through. If we play as a team defensively, then we can do that. It’s about working hard as a team, and if we do not lose a goal, everything will be good.”

Bitton believes everyone is going to suffer in the hot conditions that await Celtic here in Baku.

He said: “I used to play in this heat. It’s been two years now that I have been in Scotland, so that experience is all gone!

“No, it doesn’t matter how much you are used to playing in temperatures like this, it’s difficult when it’s 35 degrees – especially for the Scottish guys! The foreigners will find it tough also – it will be difficult for me – but, like I say, there are no excuses.

“The weather and the pitch condition doesn’t matter. We just need to do our best and play in the way the gaffer wants us to play.”

Bitton has gone from being a fringe player to being arguably Celtic’s best player. It has been some transformation for the classy midfielder.

He said: “Everybody wants to play, and when you play, you are happy and everything is good for you. But football is a game where you can’t influence what happens tomorrow. Today it’s me. Tomorrow it could be another guy.

“I said before that everybody wants to play. When you don’t play you just want to change that. It was never about leaving Celtic as such, it was about getting game time.

“But that’s the past and I don’t like to speak about the past. I prefer to speak about the future. I am happy, I am at a big club, I just want to continue.”