Celtic now join the likes of Champions League fall guys Liverpool in the third round of the competition – and Sutton feels they are not scared of any of the teams in the draw.

“I don’t think it really matters,” he insisted. “There will be some very tough sides who fell out of the Champions League so it will be tough whoever we get.

“On our day we can be more than a match for anybody, but when we’re not as we weren’t in the first leg then we did struggle against Blackburn so we will see what happens.”

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill felt that his players had proved a lot of the doubters wrong – who laughed at suggestions that they would be a success in the Barclaycard Premiership.

A number of former football stars crawled out of the woodwork and even a number of Blackburn people made derogatory remarks about the Scottish side.

But they showed that they were better than their first-leg performance suggested although the English striker insists that his team-mates had nothing to prove.

“We don’t have anything to prove to anybody other than ourselves,” added Sutton. “Whoever we will get we will do the best to beat them.

“Everybody went on about the ‘Battle of Britain’, but for the players it didn’t matter at all. England or Scotland, it’s more of a media thing.

“We can only prepare ourselves as well as we can for whoever we play. We know we didn’t play well in the first leg.

“That’s up to the individuals who made those comments. If you make comments like that then they can come back to haunt you and you can get egg on your face.

“But I don’t think that motivated us any more. We go out in every game and prepare in the best way we possibly can and do our best. We did that and fortunately we played well.

“That’s the nature of the game. People are quick to jump on the bandwagon about Scottish football and how Rangers and Celtic would do in the Premiership.

“But we can only get on and do well in the SPL and do the best we can in Europe.

“We did well last night, but that’s just one game. Blackburn played better than us in the first leg and we accepted that, but we thoroughly deserved to win last night.”

Sutton’s display in midfield – to accommodate John Hartson alongside Henrik Larsson in attack – once again brought up talk of an England call-up.

O’Neill claimed that Sutton had felt the chance to play for his country had passed him by – but Sutton is adamant that pulling on the green and white hoops means more than the white of the international side.

“It’s something which doesn’t bother me any more,” added Sutton. “I’m 30 this year.

“I wasn’t picked when I was playing in the Champions League last season and I haven’t been picked when I’ve been playing well in England so it’s something which doesn’t worry me.

“I’m enjoying my football in Scotland and playing for Celtic so that’s far more important to me.”

Sutton, however, was not the only Celtic player to impress as Stilian Petrov put behind a troubled week to star on his return to the side.

O’Neill forgave the Bulgarian and brought him back after he was dropped at Dundee United for saying he would not sign a new contract because of the offer.

But he did not let anybody down and the Celtic boss is still confident the Bulgarian international skipper will stay with the club.

“He’s not a free agent,” said O’Neill. “I am relatively optimistic that he will sign a new deal – it’s not over by a long shot.”