THE most obvious indicator of Celtic's resurgence will surely prove also to be a valuable asset in the business of making progress in Europe tonight.

FC Kosice of Slovakia will face a cacophonous full house of 47,600 at Parkhead as Tommy Burns' side attempt to improve on the scoreless draw they secured in the first leg of the UEFA Cup qualifying round tie.

Those returning fans amount to a phenomenon. Even in the days when Jock Stein was taking the Parkhead side regularly to the later stages of European competition, there was little chance of a capacity attendance against such unremarkable opponents.

There were 47,200 at the Premier Division match against Raith Rovers last Saturday, an unheard of gate against opposition from outside Ibrox or Pittodrie in the last 30 years.

"I've a feeling the Kosice players won't have encountered that kind of atmosphere and the noise our fans will make," said Burns. "That can be quite a help for us although the players on the field have to do their bit."

Burns is likely to start with the team who began the 4-1 defeat of Raith, with the recovering Paolo di Canio and Alan Stubbs being given a place on the bench. The Italian midfielder and the English central defender are not quite at peak fitness.

I'm sure the Slovakians will play a game similar to the one they played over there," said Burns. "They'll probe for openings and they won't be ultra defensive. But we really have to in pose ourselves on them.

We have to put them under serious pressure, without surrendering anything behind us. We were a bit rusty in the first match, because we hadn't played a competitive game before then. We should be a lot better equipped for this return."

Kosice play in a trim, but small stadium - it could be called quaint by Celtic Park standards - in front of fans who do not emit the same hostile passion as those who follow the Glasgow team.

Aberdeen, holding a 4-1 lead from the away match, will surely have little trouble in eliminating Zalgiris Vilnius at Pittodrie. The Lithuanians not only face a seemingly impossible deficit, but have travelled overland to Aberdeen a journey of almost four days because they could not afford to fly.