Celtic manager Tony Mowbray admits his side face an uphill task to qualify for the Champions League after a 1-0 home defeat by Dinamo Moscow.

But after watching his team create several chances in Wednesday's loss, Mowbray believes they can progress.

"It's a big ask. We have to go there and win the match first and foremost," Mowbray told BBC Scotland.

"If you look at the balance of play it has to give you optimism to believe that we can go to Moscow and score."

The Celtic boss was left to rue several missed chances following Alexander Kokorin's seventh-minute goal for the Russians in Wednesday's first leg.

Striker Marc-Antoine Fortune was guilty of two bad misses from close range, while Scott McDonald saw a header cleared off the line early in the second half.

Substitute Georgios Samaras was also presented with a free header late on - only to nod straight at keeper Vladimir Gabulov.

"It was a frustrating night for us," Mowbray said after his first match in charge at Celtic Park.

"We had more than enough of the ball and more than enough half chances that we'd have hoped to score a goal or two."

The defeat means Celtic will drop into the final round of Europa League qualifying if they fail to overturn the deficit in Moscow next Wednesday.

"We might need to score two and they are always a threat on the break," said Mowbray.

"I would imagine they would play a similar game, making it hard for us to play through them and rely on the counter-attack.

"But there's no need for us to go chasing the game too early and if we can score a goal over there it makes it very interesting."

Celtic midfielder Shaun Maloney looked lively for the home side and is not giving up hope of overturning the deficit.

"The feeling in the dressing room is that the tie is not dead, that's for sure," said the Scotland international.

"We created enough chances and that's the positive we have to take out of it. It's unfortunate that we didn't take our chances and it keeps coming back to that.

"It's going to take a massive effort but I don't think it's beyond us.

"The manager was pretty pleased with the chances we made, he wasn't despondent in the dressing room afterwards. We will wait and see how it develops over there."

Celtic's midfield options in Moscow may be boosted by the return of Scott Brown and Barry Robson, with both men expected to feature in Saturday's friendly against Sunderland.

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