Loss of Treble still raw, says Kris

Champions League. That is the four main targets for the season.

“This year was the closest we came to achieving it but lady luck was not on our side.

“Going back to the semi-final, the swing in the space of 10 minutes of thinking we should have had a penalty, being 2-0 up and they should have been down to 10 men to us actually going to 10 men and then going to 1-1 was probably the craziest I have ever been a part of.”

The player acknowledged that under Neil Lennon, when Celtic were punching above their weight in the Uefa Champions League, that the club took their eye off the ball when it came to the domestic tournaments.

“This year there was more emphasis on the Treble because we were out of the Champions League,” he explained.

“Under Neil when we were in the Champions League we probably took the cups a little bit for granted.

“It is difficult when you are playing for Celtic that you have such big games coming up.”

Despite the challenge of going for the Treble again next term, Commons will still look to make inroads into the Champions League.

And the versatile attacker is confident that Celtic have learned lessons from last summer’s debacle when the club couldn’t find a way past Legia Warsaw and then Maribor when they were granted a second bite of the cherry.

Those early difficulties from Deila’s initial reign were ironed out – Commons signed a two-year extension to his contract at the start of February – and he is adamant that Celtic are ready now to progress in Europe.

“It was hard,” Commons told Radio Clyde.

“There were too many changes, too quickly.

“Now we know how Ronny wants us to play and what he expects of us.

“We are confident we can progress and get into the group stage of the competition.”