Andreas Hinkel insists it will be business as usual for the Celtic defence in Thursday night's Europa League tie against Hapoel Tel-Aviv in Israel despite the introduction of additional officials for the first time.

UEFA will use the inaugural tournament - the successor to the now-defunct UEFA Cup - to experiment with one extra official behind each goal in a bid to assist the referee. It is thought the extra pair of eyes on each penalty box will help cut down on things like shirt pulling and grappling as well as any contentious goalline decisions.

"We will see what happens," the Celtic right-back said. "But I won't be more careful. I try to stop strikers by fair means so it will be no different to me."

He added: "I don't think any players will change their style of football, they will play normally."

Hinkel claims Celtic have as good a chance as any side of winning the competition but is expecting a tough time qualifying out of Group C which also includes Rapid Vienna and Hamburg, with the biggest test coming against Bundesliga leaders.

"It is a tough group," the former Stuttgart player said. "Rapid Vienna getting through surprised me because I watched their game against Aston Villa and of course I know about Hamburg.

"It's the first time I have played against an Israeli team and I have never been to Israel before but the manager will tell us more about them when we travel over.

"But Hamburg will be our main rivals, they are confident at the moment, and they have a good squad."