FC STJARNAN boss Runar Pall Sigmundsson last night claimed that his part-timers can dump Celtic out of the Champions League in next week’s qualifier. The Stjarnan manager had this to say following Celtic losing 5 goals to Dukla Prague on Saturday at St Mirren Park:
“Celtic have just started their pre-season preparation and looked a little bit rusty but it was interesting for us to see them in this game.
“Dukla were a very good team and took advantage of a lot of space Celtic left between their defence and midfield. They had some problems with that and it is something we can look at in their game.
“Our players will have to play two great games and everybody will have to play their best ever if we are to beat Celtic.
“But we are very confident. We like to play in this tournament and take confidence from our performances against Motherwell and Lech Poznan in last season’s Europa League. We knocked out two very good teams but this is our first attempt at the Champions League.
“Of course it would be massive to beat Celtic. It is a great opportunity for Stjarnan to play against Celtic and if we have a great result in Glasgow then we can do something big.
“We know it will be a very difficult game but we are optimistic and believe in our playing style and in our team.”
Sigmundsson will miss Celtic’s next pre-season match against Real Sociedad on Friday but reckons he’s seen enough in the Dukla Prague match. He said:
“This was the first time I’ve had the chance to see them live and it was very useful. I won’t get another chance to see them because we have a game of our own on July 12 in our league, so I have to be at that.
“That means I won’t see Celtic’s final game against Real Sociedad before they play us but maybe I’ll get the chance to see it online.
“We will definitely be following it to see how they are playing.
“Celtic are at a different level from Motherwell. They are fantastic and we know it will be very difficult for us.
“The games against Celtic are big for us and we are going to enjoy them.”
