Deila says Malmo will toil if Celts hit top form
RONNY Deila last night warned Malmo his Celtic side will be unstoppable if they come close to their Champions league peak.
The Norwegian will pit his wits against old rival and countryman age Hareide in tonight’s play-off round first leg at Parkhead.
in an interview in May, Hareide claimed Malmo were better than Celtic. The former Norway boss further claimed this week the Scottish champions are inferior to Red Bull Salzburg — the team Malmo beat in the last round.
Yet Deila believes there is no need to resort to pinning those comments on the noticeboard, believing his team are individually and collectively stronger than
their Swedish opponents. ‘I know what Age is coming here with and he has played against my systems before,’ he said. ‘I know that when we play our system that well, it is not possible to stop us. He knows as well. So it’s more about getting what we believe in out there on the pitch. ‘I know if we play our system well, we will get opportunities and be hard to play against. ‘We are just at the start of building the system but we have come quite far over the past year and that is giving me a lot of confidence.’ Hareide claims a crowd of around 55,000 could worry his players more than their opponents in green and white. Asked if his old foe might be indulging in mind games, Deila added: ‘He has to answer that. I really believe in my team. We will see on Wednesday who is going to be right. ‘We have gone several months now without losing games and we are getting better. I’m looking forward to this and believe we have a very good chance. ‘I think the players read the comments in the media, so that’s no problem. But, again, it’s about us — not Malmo. ‘We have to do our job as well as possible and, if we do that, I know we have a good chance to win the tie. I like to do the talking on the pitch.’ Malmo qualified for the group stages last season and are looking to become the first Swedish club to do so two years running. The Allsvenskan champions had an underwhelming start to the season after losing some key players but have improved recently. ‘They have made a few good signings and they are better than they were two months ago,’ acknowledged Deila. ‘They beat Salzburg, although I don’t know how good Salzburg are compared to last year. ‘In Malmo’s best periods, they could challenge Celtic for the title if they were playing in the Scottish league. ‘But they couldn’t do it for a long time. ‘If I had to choose between Malmo’s squad and my own, I would choose my squad. We are individually stronger than them.’