LAST Wednesday night, as Celtic edged past Dundee in the CIS Insurance Cup, the same 2-1 scoreline consigned AC Milan to defeat against Palermo. The Rossoneri, five games into the new Serie A campaign, have managed just one victory so far in their challenge for domestic honours.

Gordon Strachan is a manager who likes to have statistics to hand, relishing his ability to deliver them like barbs in support of his team.

But he regards the facts surrounding Milan's lacklustre start to the season as an irrelevance as the defending champions prepare to travel to Scotland for Wednesday night's Champions League tie at Parkhead.

"Current form doesn't mean anything for them and it doesn't mean anything for us, because we still know they are a quality side. The Champions League is a second home to them, " he claimed.

No-one would debate that last point, given veterans like Paolo Maldini and Clarence Seedorf are synonymous with the competition. Indeed, in their official squad list, Milan have a dozen players who have made 50 or more appearances in the Champions League.

It may be a second home for the likes of Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Ronaldo, but coach Carlo Ancelotti will be well aware of the statistic which shows that Parkhead is very much Celtic's patch whenever Handel's 'Zadok the Priest' . . . the official Champions League anthem . . . rings out.

The home record under Martin O'Neill was impressive enough, but Strachan has improved and extended that run, with five matches played and no goals conceded during his tenure. Between howlers from Artur Boruc and frailties across the back four, Celtic's defence has been under considerable scrutiny of late, but major European nights at Parkhead have typically been associated with steely resilience and positive results.

Last season, in the last 16 of the competition, Celtic held Milan to a 0-0 draw at home.

Strachan recalls that was a game in which "not much happened". Milan, for their part, departed happy in the knowledge that their tactics ensured no great contribution from Shunsuke Nakamura or Aiden McGeady.

The Japanese star hasn't played for three games because of a knee injury, but Strachan believes the chances of Nakamura making his comeback on Wednesday night are "getting better" every day. "I'm hopeful. He is doing a lot of swimming right now and he is an incredibly fit person anyway, " said the Celtic manager.

While Strachan will let his players rest today after their victory against Dundee United yesterday, the manager and his coaches will turn their attentions to Milan and how Celtic will set out to deal with the threat of men like Kaka.

The answer will definitely not be in man-marking individuals. "Those days have gone. I think Claudio Gentile and Berti Vogts were the last ones to do that, " said Strachan. "Zonal marking is what I did at both Coventry and Southampton. You'd know a player like Robert Pires liked going into certain areas so we made sure we had enough numbers in there to prevent him from doing that."

The lightness of Strachan's mood as he discussed the forthcoming Milan match suggested he was happy enough with the way his team have been playing of late, particularly when they are on the front foot.

Midfielder Paul Hartley, who missed last year's Milan tie, knows what to expect this time around. "When you play against Italian teams you know they are going to work very hard and they will be defensively minded, " he said.

"And what makes them dangerous is the way they play on the counter-attack."

This time he hopes to be involved in the action, potentially sitting in front of the back four and shielding them from the likes of the magic of Kaka. "It would be great to put my wits against him. If I was given that job it is something I would relish, " said Hartley.

He says he is greedy and wants three points from Wednesday's game. And why shouldn't he. Celtic's Champions League record at Parkhead should be the envy of most other teams in the competition, even the seven-times European champions.