Celtic are still in contention to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League and manager Ronny Deila says that they will complete the task when they take on Stjarnan.

The Icelandic club are one of the opponents standing in front of Celtic. The Scottish club managed a 2-0 victory in the first leg. As a result, even a draw will see them into the next round. However, there are concerns that the opposition will gain an advantage on home turf since they are used to playing on the plastic pitch used here. Deila, though, is unconcerned about the artificial pitch.

Instead, he is focussing his attempts on playing well and potentially winning the game. The Celtic players will certainly not be used to playing at the Samsungvoller ground, which has a capacity of just 1000 fans. It is one of the smallest grounds being used in the Champions League qualifying stages. Compared to this ground, Celtic have a capacity of 60,000 supporters at their Celtic Park. Despite numerous changes being proposed at Celtic in terms of the squad over the summer, Deila appears to have kept his team motivated enough for the game.

Doing well in the Champions League is not a luxury but a necessary for Deila.“He has to take a trip to Scotland and look at some games there. I don’t think he knows what Scotland is about. He can go to Inverness and Ross County, places not so different from this one.And I am very positive about artificial surfaces. It is much better to play on a good artificial than very bad grass pitch,” said Deila. “They had a couple of chances, especially in the second half; one from the edge of the box was quite close. If they had nicked a goal, it would have made this an even more difficult task,” said goalkeeper Craig Gordon.