Late sting in the tail undermines Celtic

“But we have to see out the two legs, and they have to beat us in Malmo to get through”.

After passing up on two chances to reach the group stages last season after taking over from Neil Lennon – the Hoops lost to Slovenian outfit Maribor in the play-off after being reinstated – the Norwegian is confident that his players, who recovered to win the Ladbrokes Premiership and Scottish League Cup, are now ready to clear the final hurdle.

“Malmo’s home form doesn’t scare me”.

“These kinds of errors are always happening in football games but it was in the wrong areas and we got punished very hard”, Delia said. He will no doubt do a job for the team and I will be ready if I am needed to come on.

Leigh Griffiths: Two goals for the striker, both of which he took well.

“I know how good a player he is and he is a fantastic personality as well”. He and James Forrest drove Malmo to distraction as they pressed high and hunted in packs as Malmo struggled to play out from the back and the bad news for the Swedish champions is that playing on the counter, as Malmo chase the goal they still need, should suit them even more.

Celtic, though, undid much of their good work with another moment of carelessness soon after the restart when Brown, backpedalling inside his own half, headed aimlessly into space in front of Emilio Izaguirre.

Celtic manager Ronny Deila now has defensive concerns to address before the return in Sweden, when the focus might otherwise have been on his side’s attacking vim. “They don’t have the legs for 90 minutes”.

“The players and the system done well are the things that will take us through the Champions League“.

The Bhoys have won 11 of their last 12 Champions League qualifying games at Parkhead, keeping eight clean sheets and conceding only five times in total. The midfielder played in Griffiths, who had the simplest of tasks in sliding the ball past Johan Wiland.

“It’s disappointing when you score a goal and the big games come around and you are on the bench”.

Celtic are unbeaten in their last six games with four victories and two draws.

“I haven’t talked with him yet, but of course it doesn’t look well”, added Deila. It was a tough time for him and for me as well at the start.

“We are ahead by one goal and we were the same against Qarabag and we defended there”. But Champions League play-off ties just aren’t meant to be like that.

Mikael Lustig, who had been at fault defensively for Malmo’s goal, raced down the wing from right-back and crossed for Griffiths, only for Anton Tinnerholm to spoon a header up in the air, which Griffiths raced onto, looping a header over the ‘keeper and into the net.

“Last year we had injuries and the decisions made themselves”. We just have to be the best we can be and if we do that and don’t succeed then we’re not good enough.

“He played well. They were great goals he scored”, Deila said.