Deila: Celtic have hardest job in Europe

RONNY DEILA claims no club in Europe have to live with the Champions League pressure piled on Celtic. The Scottish champions will learn their opponents in the final play-off qualifying round of world football’s biggest club competition this morning. Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, Malmo, Skenderbeu Korce of Albania and Kazakhstan’s Astana lie in wait, with a £16million windfall on the line. After coming through a nervy night in Azerbaijan against Qarabag, Deila must negotiate another pair of high-pressure games to take the Parkhead club back to the group stages. ‘We are not through yet and it is going to be tough,’ he insisted. ‘But I know the demands at this

club now. I think Celtic supporters can see what is happening with the club. ‘Of course, it is not human to have so much pressure around one or two games. They don’t have that pressure at other clubs. ‘That’s why Qarabag were able to play with so much freedom whereas we had to play with a lot of pressure. ‘But the players understand what they are playing for. ‘There is no club in the world which has so much to prove in the Champions League because everyone says it is so easy for Celtic to win the Scottish league. ‘I know that’s how it is seen but we can only do our best. I think we have given two big performances in the last two qualifying games.’ Norwegian countryman Age Hareide manages Malmo — the job Deila once turned down — and a tie with the Swedes would be laced with sub-plots. Parkhead flop Jo Inge Berget plays for the Swedish champions while Hareide claimed in May his side are ‘better than Celtic’. A trip to Albania or a return to Kazakhstan — where Celtic scraped through against Shakhter Karagandy — would hold little appeal logistically but may represent the best football options. ‘I want the poorest team,’ said Deila, ‘but it’s hard to know at this stage who they are. Sometimes you can get names who are not very big, but they are still very good teams.’ Meanwhile, Southampton boss Ronald Koeman is refusing to rule out a move for Virgil van Dijk. The Premiership club have lost Florin Gardos to injury for six months and are in the market for a second central defender despite securing Steven Caulker on a season-long loan deal. Deila denied reports that a £7m bid from the Saints had already been submitted, with Koeman saying: ‘Everybody knows he’s a good player. Let’s see what happens.’