Celtic go into their Europa League group C game against Hamburg in Germany this evening with a threat of crowd trouble hanging over the fixture, according to police intelligence.

Strathclyde Police confirmed yesterday that a larger than normal contingent of officers had travelled to Hamburg in order to go undercover at the game. The Old Firm routinely take police officers with them on their travels for security, but a number of tip-offs have led to a belief that the match tonight in the Nordbank Arena might require special vigilance.

Over the years, Hamburg fans have built up an alliance with Rangers, in part a reaction to a longstanding relationship between Celtic and St Pauli, Hamburg’s city rivals. There was violence in Glasgow two weeks ago after the Celtic-Hamburg game that the German side won 1-0.

“We still hope that the game will pass without incident,” one Scottish police officer who arrived with the Celtic party said yesterday.

All this is even before Tony Mowbray tries to resolve his problems on the pitch. Mowbray presided over a 3-0 win for his team over Kilmarnock in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Saturday, but knows that tonight will be a different proposition.

Celtic are unlikely to play a fit-again Marc-Antoine Fortuné from the start, although Glenn Loovens looks likely to remain in defence at the expense of Stephen McManus, the club captain.

“Hamburg will be very much on the front foot — they will come and try to break us down, so that will be the test for us,” Mowbray said. “I said before our games against Arsenal [in the Champions League play-off] that you can’t take on a team of that quality with open, expansive football, because they’d go and beat you. I think that also applies to Hamburg. They might not be of the quality of Arsenal, but they’ve got some very talented players.”

Mowbray, who has had a recent altercation with the Scottish media and was in a subdued mood yesterday, reacted disconsolately to a query put to him about a recent Uefa statistic that, having had just 13 shots on target in three Europa League games so far, Celtic were the most shot-shy team in the competition.

Mowbray’s men have accrued just one point from their opening three matches against Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Rapid Vienna and Hamburg.

“I’m not interested in that,” the Celtic manager said. “Someone told me on the flight coming over here that Juventus have scored three goals in their four [Champions League] matches and have got eight points. So it’s all about results, really.”

Hamburg (4-4-2): F Rost — G Demel, D Rozehnal, J Mathijsen, D Aoga — E Elia, D Jarolim, Zé Roberto, M Jansen — J Pitroipa, M Berg.

Celtic (probable; 4-4-2): L Zaluska — A Hinkel, G Caldwell, G Loovens, D Fox — B Robson, M Crosas, L N’Guemo, A McGeady — S McDonald, G Samaras.

Television: Live on ESPN from 5.30pm (kick-off 6pm).