Celtic vs Inter Milan

A few days ago the UEFA Europa League as well as the Champions League draw was completed and Celtic was pitted to play against the Italian side Inter Milan in a match that Ronny Deila believes to be the biggest name and biggest club that Celtic could have faced in a competition.

The UEFA Europa League matches are scheduled to take place on February of 2015 with the first leg taking place at Celtic Park on February 19 meanwhile the 2nd leg kicks off on February 26 in San Siro.

“Two big teams will be coming together and hopefully there will be a full stadium at Celtic Park that can push the team forward”, Deila said at a press conference.

The last time that Celtic and Inter Milan faced each other in a European competition was way back in 1972 when both teams locked horns in a European Cup semi-final.

Celtic’s Ronny Deila praised Inter Milan as he told the media: “They are a very good team. They have brought Mancini in and they will improve like hopefully we are at the moment.Italian football is very tactical and they are very good at defending and you can see that in Mancini’s teams.”

Celtic is currently located at the top of the Scottish Premiership League as the team is going through a fine form in their domestic league meanwhile Inter Milan is struggling as they are sitting in the middle section of Serie A and it would be impressive for the Italian side to just secure a European League spot that can allow them to compete in the Europa League of the next season even if they are not able on winning it in the current campaign.

Arsenal linked with van Dijk

All signs are pointing towards the January transfer window being a very  busy one for the Scottish side Celtic FC as players of the club have lured the attention of clubs around Europe including: Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers.

The Premier League club Arsenal was recently linked with the 23 year old Dutch centre-back of Celtic FC. Arsene Wenger is eager to boost his defensive options and one of the players that he has set his sights on is Virgil van Dijk.

The experienced midfielder Kris Commons is another player who might be transferred in January or at the end of the current season. The contract of Commons will expire when the current season reaches its end. Neil Lennon is coach of Bolton Wanderers and he has already voiced his intention in signing Commons from Celtic.

It has not been announced as to how much money will Neil Lennon be allowed and willing to spend in order to sign his January transfer target, Kris Commons but the boss of Celtic is confident that he and his assistants at Celtic are going to try everything in order to keep his star players.
“It’s still quite a long time until the window is open, so there’s going to be rumors every week but we want to keep our best players and that is what we will be going for. We want to keep those who are performing and we know are going to be important, then add other players so we can progress.” Celtic’s Ronny Deila told the media.

Ronny Deila wants to keep his star players in the squad but the manager also said that anything can happen as the main objective of the coach is to increase the quality of the team. The injection of cash that could bring in selling some of his players can also help Deila in signing some of his own targets in January and solve some of the weaknesses that Celtic has been suffering from recently.

Celtic To Play In Europa

Celtic were recently knockout of the Champions League final leg of qualifying matches, which sees the miss out on the group stages for yet another season. The 1-0 defeat at the hands of Swedish club Maribor meant that Celtic will be playing in the Europa league. This is a huge blow for new manager Ronny Deila, who will always be measured against his predecessor Neil Lennon. Lennon managed to take Celtic into the last 16 stage of the Champions League before being knocked out by Juventus. Even Lennon has been unable to match this achievement of a few years ago.

Deila’s managerial credibility as came under intense questioning even at the second round of the qualifying when Celtic were knocked out at the expense of Polish club Legia Warsaw. However, Celtic were reinstated back into the competition at the expense of Legia Warsaw, who were found to have fielded an ineligible player in the second leg of the 3-0 win. Deila says that Celtic fans may have to get used to the Europa league because the Scottish club are no longer a top club in European football. The lack of Champions League means that Celtic will struggle to attract players in a league that does not have much competition due to the absence of Rangers.

“We did not lose because of the defending, we lost because we did not create anything. We hope we can stand in the same position next year with a whole other feeling than I have right now. The first half was not good enough. In the second half we were more aggressive and had more chances. We need to have more tempo on the ball, more movement. That’s the job, it has to start now. In the end there’s only one thing to say – we have not been good enough, and we have not deserved to go to the Champions League,” said Deila.