Europa League: Celtic boss Ronny Deila happy to progress to knockout stages

Manager Ronny Deila believes Celtic have got what it takes to cope with the threat posed by Champions League third-placed teams in the next phase of the Europa League.

Celtic qualified for the Round of 32 stage despite a 3-1 home defeat to Salzburg as a result of Astra Giurgiu’s 1-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb.

In the draw for the next round, Celtic could come up against one of four seeded third-placed teams who will drop down from the Champions League but Deila has confidence in his side.

"I don't think the third placed in the Champions League are any better than Salzburg,” the Celtic boss said. "This is the standard.

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"We met a modern football team in my opinion, they are unbelievably hard-working, very direct and if we can handle this we can handle the Champions League third teams as well.

"The best team has gone through, they have showed themselves to be a very good team and we have been the second best team.

"We are very happy to get through but we wanted to win and get through ourselves."

Stefan Johansen pulled a goal back after Alan’s early double but Naby Keita sealed the win for Salzburg with his header in added time.

"I think Salzburg are a very good football team,” Deila added. “Every time they went into attack I felt threatened and I knew they were going to be as good.

"We started very poorly and conceded two easy goals and I didn't feel well after 15 minutes when we were two down.

"But they showed courage to get back in the game and I'm proud we really attacked them but we could get the equaliser and then they got the third goal."