JOHN COLLINS, the Celtic assistant manager, has admitted his team will have to change tactics for their vital Champions League qualifier against FK Qarabag on Wednesday because the pitch in Baku is of such poor quality.

It is believed that the surface is bumpy and only 70 per cent grass, and Collins revealed a disease has also been detected. There has even been talk of the third qualifying round, second leg being scrapped because of these concerns, although this is highly unlikely.

Charlie Mulgrew did not make the flight to Azerbaijan, while there are doubts over Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton. The state of the surface, if it is indeed as bad as has been suggested, meant that neither player will be risked at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in case it sets them back.

Qarabag fans even wrote an open letter to the Azerbaijani FA last month to move their Champions League game away from their stadium because of the state of the pitch as soon as they drew Celtic. The request was ignored because there wasn't enough time to change the venue.

Collins, who did not attempt to hide his concern as he prepared to board the flight from Glasgow, admitted to being disappointed by such problems.

“I just spoke to our security advisor, Ronny Hawthorne, and he said that that pitch is looking really bad,” he said. “There is some sort of disease on the grass, which hasn’t helped. There are very hot conditions as well.

“But it is the same for both teams. It will affect them because they are a football team, which we saw in the first game. They are a small team who like to pass it along the grass. It’s not ideal from a neutral’s point of view, as they want to see a good game of football.

“The pitch will have an effect on the game. It’s not something you expect at this time of the year, anywhere in the world. In the Champions League you expect quality pitches. We just have to deal with it.

“I think you have to be very careful on a bumpy pitch. You don’t want to be passing it around. We will have to adjust the tactics according to the pitch. It will be stupid to ask the players to play passes in their own half on such a bumpy surface.

“We will check it when we get there. We will maybe have to modify the tactics. That does happen every now and then, even in Scotland when you come across a muddy pitch. The first pass tends to find your striker’s chest.

“We want to play total football, but we need to use our brains as well and if the pitch is that bad that it’s going to affect how players receive the ball, then you would be daft to play in your own half.

“Until I see the pitch with my own eyes then it’s hard for me to judge it. It’s too early to say yet. But again, it’s the same for both teams. If they were just a kick-and-rush team then it would benefit them. But they’re not that, they’re a football team as well.”

There has been a number of worrying stories which have appeared over the last couple of days in the Baku media about the surface.

The Azerbaijan company Football and Sports Management Ltd – who maintain the pitch – have vowed to do everything they can to get the surface playable.

The company's chief executive Framan Alizadeh said: "We are trying everything possible to get the pitch ready at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium. At the beginning of the summer, the entire pitch was dug up and re-laid in preparation for the new football season, but the work was delayed because the stadium was being used for other events.

"But we managed to get it ready for Qarabag's game with Rudar Pljevlja last month. "Unfortunately, the recent extreme high temperatures have affected the centre of the pitch.”

Even amid the worries surrounding the surface, midfielder Bitton is adamant a dodgy pitch would be no mitigating factor if the Celtic crash out 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.”

The pitch is not Celtic and Collins' only worry. Despite the game kicking off at 9.30pm local time on Wednesday evening, it is going to be roasting hot and humid. All this means that despite Celtic’s lead, this is going to be a difficult test for the players.

“At the end of the day, we’re 1-0 up, so they’ve got to be creative and will have to try to play football and cut us open,” said Collins. “If it’s stifling hot then of course we’re not going to be chasing everything all over the pitch. In that situation, it would be about being economical with what we do to cater for the conditions.

“But at the same time we know they are a good football team – they showed that in the first game – and if we get sloppy and the concentration drops then we’ll be punished. The players know they’ll need total concentration from the first minute till last.

“The players have travelled all over the world, most of them are international players, they are vastly experienced in playing in different environments, different countries, five-star facilities and two-star facilities."

The Israeli midfielder believes everyone is going to suffer in the hot conditions that await Celtic 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 now!

“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.”