Champions League: Malmo goalkeeper calls Celtics players ‘pigs’

Asked if he believed a repeat could be on the cards, Deila said: “It is like a final”.

The winger thinks the Bhoys may melt in the Swedbank Stadion, although he is sure they will not fall into the trap of simply sitting deep and trying to protect their one-goal advantage.

“A pig is something else in English than in Scandinavia”, Hareide said.

“We maybe lacked belief in the first half but when the shackles came off they played some good football”. “It’s about getting the best teams in the world to Celtic Park – that’s what we want”. It just shows how many good players we have. That’s how it is at Celtic. “We had to do something we hadn’t done before and we are more relaxed this time”.

The Dutchman continues to be linked with a possible £10m move to Southampton while his club are insisting no deal has been set up to signal his departure before the transfer window closes.

“We don’t need to sell Virgil”, said the former Stromsgodset manager. “I made a lot of changes but we know we have a strong squad”, Deila said.

All in all, Deila made a nine changes to the Celtic side that beat Malmo 3-2 midweek, but despite the surgery to the team ahead of Tuesday’s meeting against the Swedes in the second leg of the Champions League play-off, there was no disruption to the fluency within the Parkhead side.

Celtic and Valencia will be hoping their in-form Socceroos deliver stellar performances to take them into the group stage of the lucrative Champions League competition on Tuesday.

Leigh Griffiths has started the season in great form with seven goals, including five in his last four games, and despite his call-up to the Scotland squad, he is focused on the next task in hand.

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“It should be a cracking atmosphere as Celtic will bring a good crowd as they always do”, he added.

“The manager has told me that this is the place for the next level of my development and that he is the guy to take me forward”. I know his strengths and his weaknesses. This game could see a lot of cards and chippy play.

“We have learned our lesson from the first game”.

Malmo boss Age Hariede claimed Celtic were not fit enough while some of their players branded the Scottish champions in unfavourable terms including “pigs” and “children”.

And he is confident van Dijk will shrug off the speculation as Celtic defend a 3-2 lead in Sweden.