Celtic have the edge at home

Celtic v Benfica:Gordon Strachan has insisted his Celtic side will cope in the continued absence of Shunsuke Nakamura, after it was confirmed the Japanese midfielder will not feature when Benfica visit Parkhead tonight in a match the Scottish league leaders need to win to get their Champions League campaign back on track.

Nakamura, a key performer as Celtic reached the last 16 of this competition a year ago, returned to hospital yesterday for further scans on his troublesome left knee.

The 29-year-old has been unable to train for more than a week after struggling through the early part of Celtic's season. Strachan, though, remains upbeat.

"It is not as if Naka has been carrying the team with his sensational ability," explained the Celtic manager. "He has been all right this year, but others have done very well. We would be panicking if we had one guy playing exceptionally well and others playing poorly. Obviously we would like him fit, but we have enough forward players to give the other team problems."

Strachan has singled out Aiden McGeady, likely to be Celtic's most creative force against the Portuguese side, for special praise. The Ireland international had been told by his manager that his play had to become more direct, and McGeady has played 17 times for Celtic already this season after heeding the advice.

"There has been a subtle change in Aiden's game," said Strachan, "which has benefited him and benefited the team, that's for sure."

McGeady will be joined in midfield by Scott Brown, the latter man missing training yesterday as a precaution after a recent hamstring strain.

Celtic's Champions League home record continues to make impressive reading: they have tasted defeat only once, to Barcelona in 2004. Benfica, second in the Portuguese league, have been beaten by three goals on both their previous visits to Parkhead.

And Stephen McManus says the Portuguese side will come up against a different Celtic side from the one they beat two weeks ago.

The Portuguese outfit sealed a 1-0 victory in Lisbon when Oscar Cardozo made some intense second-half pressure count in the 87th minute.

The frustrating late defeat continued Celtic's poor away record in the group stages: just one point from 14 games.

The Celtic skipper said: "Obviously with our home record we will certainly come out and have a go at them.

"Away from home we set out our stall a wee bit different, but I think a lot of teams do in Europe nowadays.

"We will certainly have a right go and hopefully get the three points.

"We know Benfica are going to be a very good side, they seem to be in this competition every single year and that proves how good a side they are.

"They have very good players all over the pitch but I think at home it is important that we stamp our authority on the game and really go out and show Benfica that we can be as attack-minded as anybody at home.

"We have players like Aiden (McGeady) and Scott McDonald on really good form, and Jiri Jarosik has also proved in the Champions League that he has another level in him, which is great.

"The most important thing is the team, if we have a good team performance on the night I would like to think that will be good enough to get the victory."

The Benfica striker, Nuno Gomes, admits his side were somewhat taken aback by their Parkhead experience in their 3-0 defeat last season.

Benfica, who along with their hosts have three points from as many Group D matches and trail the top two, Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, by the same margin, have, however, been boosted by the 1-0 victory over the Scottish champions a fortnight ago.

"We suffered a bit with the atmosphere and pressure on the night (last year)," said Gomes, "but I don't expect it to be the same this time. We will come out strongly and try to make it different.

"Celtic are strong at home and we know they have been scoring a lot of goals, but we have our own strengths and we will play to them. A draw would be a good result, but we want to go to the next phase so we are looking for a victory."