POSTECOGLOU SETTING HIS SIGHTS ON EUROPEAN GLORY

ANGE POSTECOGLOU insists

Celtic will go all out to try to win the inaugural Europa Conference League.

Celtic enter UEFA’s newest competition this week as

Norwegians Bodo/Glimt arrive at Parkhead for the first leg of a knockout play-off round tie.

Postecoglou, who has already led the club to League Cup success this season, insists he wants to win every competition he enters.

Just as he’ll try to secure a passage to the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a win over Raith Rovers at Celtic Park today, so the Australian sees Thursday’s tie as an opportunity to take a step towards another trophy.

He said: ‘I want to go deep in every competition. I’ve never entered anything without thinking about trying to be successful in it. I took Australia to a World Cup and

thought I could win it. People will say I’m being ridiculous but that’s just the way I’m made up.’

Roma and Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City lead the betting to win UEFA’s newest tournament, with Celtic a best-priced 25-1 to go all the way and win the final in Tirana, Albania, in May.

A win over Bodo/Glimt would take Celtic into the last 16 and Postecoglou sees no reason to curb his players’ ambitions of going further.

He continued: ‘You go into something and do your utmost to be successful, so that’s what we’ll do in Europe.

‘Why give up that opportunity if it exists? You could think about next year or the year after but that might never come. We’re in the competition and we want success in it.’

With his team immersed in a packed schedule, Postecoglou is likely to rotate some players for today’s match against Raith Rovers, who have already lost a League Cup tie at Parkhead this season.

Notably, there could be a first appearance since December 2019 for defender Christopher Jullien.

Thursday is likely to see a return to Celtic’s strongest available XI.

Unbeaten since losing to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League group stage back in November, Postecoglou’s team are fit and in form — but he is wary of the danger present in the tie.

In a reversal of a near annual problem that arises for Celtic in European qualifiers, Bodo/Glimt enter the match during their off-season but coach Kjetil Knutsen took his team to Spain for a warm-up camp designed to bring them closer to full fitness.

‘There’s advantages and disadvantages,’ said Postecoglou. ‘We experienced it in the summer, playing Champions League qualifiers before a league game.

‘They’re in a similar boat now but, at the same time, they’ve had a singular focus on this game.

‘They’ve been in Spain for pre-season and we’ve had people watch them. They’re a good side.

‘They’ve been successful for a couple of years now both domestically and they had a great Europa League run as well.

‘It’s going to be a big challenge for us.’