Celtic boss Ronny Deila is confident his side can see off Iceland champions FC Stjarnan in their first Champions League qualifier.
The Scottish giants enter qualifying for Europe’s top competition in the second round and can draw confidence from last year when they saw off fellow Icelandic outfit KR Reykjavik 5-0 on aggregate.
Deila has stressed he will not allow Celtic to grow complacent or underestimate their opponents, but he is confident they can overcome Stjaman and move into the next qualification round.
He told the club’s official website: “It’s a good draw. Every opponent you get now is difficult. We were going to be favourites whoever we met in this round.
“We have experience of Icelandic teams now as well. We need to have a good pre-season, work really well in training and make ourselves ready for the game. We know if we are at our peak we have a chance to get a good result.
“We are well used to being favourites and we are in this game as well. We just have to go into the game the same way we did last year, taking everyone really seriously and being very well-prepared.
“We know we have skills and opportunities to get a good result. We know the goal is to get into the Champions League and this game is the first one towards that and we will do everything to get through. We will go to watch them.”
The Hoops fell at the final hurdle last season as they were beaten in the play-off round by Slovenian club Maribor and Deila will be desperate to reach the lucrative group stages of the Champions League proper this season.
Celtic are 1.03 to win the Scottish Premiership next season.
Leave a comment
Link Dafabet