Celtic winger James Forrest has said that he and his teammates will have to be at their best when they face Red Bull Salzburg this week and he hopes he can follow European action with his club with a return to the national team.

The Scottish champions prepared for their Europa League match with a 1-0 win over Aberdeen on Saturday and now turn their attention to their trip to Austria. Celtic won their group opener against Rosenborg and now face the top seeds in the group, who defeated RB Leipzig in their first game.

"We've started with one out of one so far in the Europa League so we'll take confidence from that," Forrest said.

"We know they'll be a difficult team and they've had a good start as well.

"Every game in Europe, home and away, is always tough so we know we need to be ready right from the start and put in a good performance."

Forrest was speaking on the day he was included in the Scotland squad for the Nations League match against Israel and the friendly against Portugal.

The winger, who has 22 Scotland caps, didn't feature in the friendly defeat to Belgium or the win over Albania.

Forrest said he was versatile enough to fit into different formations and was confident he had a role to play in Alex McLeish's side. He revealed he had had a discussion with the national team boss and wasn't unduly concerned.

"He spoke to me after the Albania game and said it wasn't to be for those two games but said I was still in his plans," the 27-year old said.

"Every time you go away it's different formations and not always the same team so I just need to keep working hard, not read too much into it and be ready for the games coming up."