Their points haul from these ties is a big fat zero. Their followers are entitled to expect the halting of that sequence on Wednesday, before they even set about tackling their 17-game winless run on the road in the competition proper. Eight of these fruitless excursions have come under Gordon Strachan, but two were forgivable since they came once qualification to the last 16 of the tournament had been secured.

Never before in their Champions League history have Celtic been afforded the chance to get a campaign off to a flier against such modest opponents as the Danish champions, and in their own surrounds.

"People are possibly right in saying that," states the Celtic manager of the notion the club have the perfect platform to post an opening day win. "We're in pot three and they (Aalborg] are in pot four. It is important to pick up three points. We started against Shakhtar last season and we were two goals down after eight minutes and you think 'oh Jesus, this could be a long night'."

That was on unfamiliar soil but Champions League nights are becoming more drawn-out affairs for Celtic even in the east end of Glasgow. Strachan's team have come closer to losing the perfect home record in the tournament's group stages in the past year than they have of making a dent on their winless run abroad. It required a 93rd-minute goal to see off Shakhtar at Celtic Park last November, and a last-minute strike to claim victory over AC Milan the previous month. Aaalborg are not in the same bracket as these two, but recent European excursions demand they are treated with caution. It might have required FBK Kaunas to be reduced to nine men before they did so, but last month the Danish champions netted two goals without reply at the Lithuanians' S Darius & S Girenas Stadium where Rangers were vanquished weeks previously.

In the northern Jutland city they still talk with pride about the 2-0 half-time lead they enjoyed against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in the UEFA Cup group stages last November. No matter that they eventually lost 3-2. Aalborg reached the sectional stage of Europe's second-string competition, meanwhile, courtesy of a 2-2 draw away to Sampdoria – becoming the first Danish club to eliminate an Italian team from continental competition.

It can be taken as read that Bruce Rioch's side will be stubborn and sizeable, qualities that made FC Copenhagen difficult opposition for Celtic to crack in Strachan's first Champions League campaign in September 2006. That night only a penalty converted by Kenny Miller separated the sides. Aalborg's physical prowess will not impact on Strachan's team choice, however.

"It was hard work when we played FC Copenhagen at Celtic Park," he says. "They were big and strong and some of their players have gone on to do reasonably well. Aalborg, in turn, did well in the UEFA Cup last season and have done well to get through the qualifying to reach the group stages.

"I'll try and get the best players on the pitch for the atmosphere that will be generated and the surface we'll be playing on. We have to believe in our strengths and can't think of the physical aspect of Danish teams otherwise you'd just play the monsters in your team all the time."

Celtic's greatest strength on Champions League nights in Glasgow's east end remains the ambience created by 60,000 spectators. More than any other factor, this intangible has been responsible for the six straight victories they have achieved in the tournament's group stages in the Strachan era.

"The Parkhead atmosphere keeps us going; there's a momentum over the 90 minutes and it gives a power to the players," the Celtic manager concedes. "I don't think it intimidates the opposition; it just gives us more strength and power. I think everyone enjoys the European nights. They are a bit different and a bit of the unexpected. It's not like the run-of-the-mill games where the crowd sit back and say: 'come on, entertain me'. I think they understand there is a game on."

And Strachan ventures there might be more of a game on this Wednesday because the Danish national team last week netted two goals in the final two minutes of their World Cup qualifier away to Portugal to secure a 3-2 win. "When the national team is doing well, it can help club sides," he says. "That happened to ourselves when we had players coming back after a good Scotland result."

This feelgood factor shouldn't be sufficient to leave Celtic feeling bad after entertaining Aalborg. Coping with the threat of Manchester United and Villarreal in Group E might prove altogether different, but Strachan is sanguine about arguably having raised expectation levels to unreasonable heights through progressing to the Champions League knock-out stages two seasons running.

"You have to deal with these expectations and they are only there because we have done well," he says. "That wasn't over-achieving. If you achieve something it is only what you are capable of doing if you set your mind to it." He will be reminded of that if Celtic fail to achieve what many of the club's supporters are mistakenly in danger of believing should be a given.