Martin O’Neill is taking Celtic into a glamorous Europa League knockout tie, but his feet are firmly grounded.
The Hoops face German high-flyers Stuttgart in the first leg at Celtic Park on Thursday evening, but the Hoops boss is brutally honest on how difficult the tie will be.
Speaking ahead of the game, he admitted to not even knowing where the Europa League final is.
He said: “You go into a competition dreaming, and when you start off, you dream about the final… then reality hits you, very very quickly.
“I wouldn’t have thought that we’d be thinking in this competition, with the teams that are still left in it… including our opponents tomorrow night.
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“I wouldn’t even know where the final is! Where is it at? Istanbul? Well, that’s a long way away…
“A long way away. And I don’t mean in terms of geography! I mean a long way away in my mind. Let me put it this way: the two things may well coincide…
“But yeah, let’s see what we do here tomorrow night. Honestly, they’ll be really difficult games if Stuttgart show their Bundesliga form. They’ll be difficult evenings for us.”
Martin O’Neill on Celtic vs Stuttgart test
On the threat posed by the German side, O’Neill said: “This is a major test for us tomorrow.
“If you’d been having a conversation with me – which you might’ve done, young man – after Midtjylland, we’d have got long odds about being here this evening.
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“But I’ve said in the past: we went to Feyenoord, got a great result there, fought with ten men for about 60 minutes in the match against Bologna…
“So I just didn’t want those games to not count for something. We’re here, so we might as well give it a go.
“Stuttgart are flying at this moment. They’re fourth in the Bundesliga, they’re in a Champions League position.
“I had a look at them, and obviously, they’re very strong, physical and they’ve got a lot of good players playing for them.
“So they’ll be difficult games for us, but while we’re there, let’s go for it.”
Celtic fans would you rather: Win the Europa League but miss out on the league title?
Or… get knocked out of the Europa League and win the title?
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic milestone
O’Neill is in a special moment in his career, on the verge of reaching the illustrious milestone of 1000 matches in professional management.
Over 300 of these have come at Celtic; with his 300th in the Parkhead hotseat coming at Rugby Park on Sunday.
It’s a fitting occasion for the milestone, given the 2003 symmetry and high-profile nature of the game. An added motivation for the Hoops players, no doubt.
It would be even more special if O’Neill can become the first manager to win a European knockout tie proper at Celtic since… himself, 22 years ago.
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