This was a rarity at Celtic Park. The Scottish champions were relentless against continental opposition on a night that would soak up so many years of frustration for Celtic at elite level. New format, new Celtic, new danger.

Slovan Bratislava’s weakness will most likely be reflected in the Champions League matches that follow, but Brendan Rodgers and Celtic were well within their rights to enjoy what happened here after a game full of European turmoil. Rodgers and his players will travel to Borussia Dortmund convinced that this environment does not have to be so punishing after all.

The whole thing quickly turned into a defeat, with Celtic’s pace of play paralyzing Slovan. At the 13th attempt, Celtic finally opened the Champions League with a win. In case anyone had any doubts, their coach’s star is on the rise again. A fan base that seemed unsure of him a year ago now praises his every move.

“If the competition ends now, we’ll be playing Bayern Munich in the final,” said Rodgers with a smile, referring to Celtic’s excellent second place finish out of 36 teams. “It was a great night. The players were absolutely sensational. We could have had more than five players.” That was no exaggeration.

The confidence that Rodgers exuded before this game was largely due to a confident start to the season. But Celtic have already been in this film: unbeatable in Scotland, but unable to keep up with even mediocre teams in Europe.

A key theme is that Celtic will re-establish themselves as a credible European force in their second spell in Glasgow. Their opponents here have always seemed well-positioned, which has not always been the case over the last decade. Celtic were the clear favourites to open the Champions League with a win. How they should overcome this challenge.

Celtic fans have clearly been inspired by Rodgers’ vision, and the sizzling atmosphere was one of anticipation rather than hope. When Daizen Maeda fired a wild shot over the Slovakian bar after four minutes, Celtic knew they could break through the visitors’ defence. Maeda then placed a free header straight into the hands of Dominik Takac. Slovakia fired back, and David Strelec saw his shot deflected when the striker should have passed to the onrushing Vladimir Weiss.

Celtic have invested relatively heavily to realise their Champions League dream, so it felt poetic that a 2021 purchase from Shamrock Rovers broke the deadlock. There was support from a blue-chip purchase – the delivery of Arne Engels, Celtic’s record signing for £11m, was superb – but Liam Scales still showed tenacity and perfect timing to meet the cross. Scales’ fierce header flew over Takac’s shoulder and into the goal. The goalkeeper soon had to move smartly to stop Kyogo Furuhashi from close range.

Slovan were also dangerous on the counterattack. Weiss, a former Rangers player, gave the Celtic defence a chance to recover after Cameron Carter-Vickers had misplaced a header. Furuhashi was equally wasteful in the 34th minute, firing in a shot that should have tested Takac.

At half-time, Celtic grew stronger. Nicolas Kühn threatened to reach a deadlock, but deceived the Slovakian defence with a sharp, low cross from the right that found Furuhashi at the far post. This time, the Japanese striker could not miss and fired the ball into the visitors’ goal with his thigh.

A careless moment was the trigger for Celtic’s third goal. Danylo Ihnatenko challenged Alistair Johnston in the penalty area, although there was absolutely no reason to do so. Engels converted the resulting penalty.

Slovan dampened the mood, if only a little and, as it turned out, only briefly. Celtic should have cleared instead of giving Kevin Wimmer a chance to shoot. He shot, beautifully with the outside of his foot, from an angle, leaving Kasper Schmeichel helpless. The Danish goalkeeper rightly reprimanded his defenders for their carelessness.

Maeda was called upon to calm nerves. Furuhashi passed to Reo Hatate, who passed the ball to his raging team-mate. Maeda’s composure allowed him to fire a low shot past the unmarked Takac. Now the question was how many goals Celtic wanted to score.

Two substitutes combined to score the fifth goal. James Forrest passed to Adam Idah, who got through unmarked and made no mistake. That ended a not quite perfect evening for Celtic, but not far from it. Off to Dortmund, with a spring in his step.