Fast forward seven days later and it would appear that all the optimism has been drained by the result last week that saw Celtic not only lose the first leg, but also ship that all important away goal.
One person who is ever-optimistic however is Gary Caldwell. The player that has recently been upgraded to Cult Hero in the eyes of many Celtic supporters was quick to state that Celtic are more than capable of a result against the Russians, citing the gilt edged chances that we managed to spurn as evidence that we have enough quality to unlock the Muscovites.
"I think we can score twice over there," said Caldwell. "We could have scored three or four in the first game.
"I'm sure we have enough in our team to hurt them and break them down and I'm pretty sure we can go through."
Many people felt that Saturdays match against Sunderland would have granted an ideal opportunity for Mowbray to iron out a few problems in his side. However Mowbray had other ideas and instead used the opportunity to 'rest' a few players, stating that 'tiredness' was an issue with a few members of the squad.
Caldwell however disagreed with this notion.
"As footballers, you have to get on with it and deal with it.
"We have played a lot of games and done a lot of travelling and last Wednesday night was a tough game.
"The intensity of that game and having it so early makes it more difficult to recover from.
"But we have to be better than that and rise above the challenge of being tired."
Caldwell feels that Celtic can have the beating of Moscow as long as they get it right on the night.
"We have to get the balance right," he said. "We have to make sure we don't get caught on the break.
"There's no use scoring two if we lose two or three, because we will still be out.
"We have to be disciplined in our play and not throw too many players forward early on - and see if we can create chances with the forwards that we have got."
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt