A much-changed Celtic side delivered the perfect Champions League send-off, as Brendan Rodgers' side head to Kazakhstan in search of a place in the Champions League.

Three goals in 20 second-half minutes blew away Livingston's stubborn resistance, with new Swedish signing Benjamin Nygren grabbing a double before Irish striker Johnny Kenny smashed home his first goal at Celtic Park.

Nygren was particularly impressive, creating and scoring the first, cooly finding the top corner for the second, and generally being the catalyst for a big improvement after the break.

When Kenny blasted in fellow substitute Daizen Maeda's cross, a big smile broke across manager Rodgers' face.

The Northern Irishman made eight changes to the team who started against Kairat Almaty in midweek, including giving a debut and a first start for new Japanese signings Hayato Inamura at left-back and striker Shin Yamada.

Stalwarts Reo Hatate, Kieran Tierney, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and James Forrest were all rested, although the latter trio were among several second-half introductions once Celtic had nudged ahead.

Visiting goalkeeper Jerome Prior might feel particularly aggrieved to be on the end of such a scoreline, having pulled off an incredible stop just before half-time, leaping to somehow tip Hyun-jun Yang's point-blank header onto the crossbar.

Celtic's attention now turns to an arduous journey to Almaty, where a £40m shoot-out against Kairat awaits.

That several senior players were either completely or partially rested, while keeping up Celtic's 100 per cent start to the domestic season, will be music to the manager's ears.

As it will to his directors sitting in the Celtic Park stand, at whom the 'sack the board' chants died down once the home goals finally started to flow.

Celtic will be quietly satisfied with this one but no more than that. There was still a flatness about much of their display, particularly in the first 45.

That said, a side showing eight changes will always struggle to find much early fluency. The team that started also managed to get ahead, with Nygren tapping in shortly after the break.

After which, a few of the more usual suspects came on, Celtic's level contined to rise and normal league service was resumed.

For the European adventure that lies ahead, however, the Scottish champions will have to be sharper, more imaginative and clinical with any chances they do create.

Champions League qualification is stake. With one top performance - or even a good result regardless of the display - much of the noise around the club could be silenced.

They'll need to be better than they were here - and last midweek - but with a strong domestic start to the season behind them, they'll now turn all their attention to becoming the first Scottish side to win in Kazakhstan.

A big reward awaits if they can.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "Very pleased. I thought it was a really good performance.

"We should've been ahead by half-time. Our patience was important. The crowd could see what we were trying to do. The second half, they get their reward for that.

"I thought that Benji [Nygren] was the standout player. It's why we brought him to the club. He wants to score goals, he can score goals."

Livingston manager David Martindale: "I don't think we deserved anything, but I think there's still positives to take.

"We've not played an opponent at this level for 18 months. The boys equipped themselves fairly well, especially the first half.

"I didn't come here to take a 1-0 defeat, or a 2-0 defeat. We came here to try and stay in the game as long as we could."

Celtic resume their Champions League play-off with Kairat in Kazakhstan on Tuesday (17:45 BST) - live on Sportsound - with the sides tied at 0-0.

The small matter of a trip to face Rangers in the Premiership next Sunday (12:00) follows.

Livingston return to top-flight action at home to Hearts next Saturday (15:00).