FOR Celtic supporters of a certain age, their first memory of a proper bona fide European night in the east end of Glasgow came in 1980 when Real Madrid were in town.

Billy McNeill's side were a fusion of players the club itself had produced, a few bargain buys and two major transfers, Davie Provan and Murdo MacLeod, bought respectively from Kilmarnock and Dumbarton for a combined sum of £220,000.

Celtic won 2-0 in what was a quarter-final first-leg thanks to second-half goals from George McCluskey and an extraordinary header from the late Johnny Doyle in front of a Parkhead packed to the seams.

Two weeks later, Real did what true giants of football tend to do. They upped their game and won 3-0 to go through, the winner coming four minutes from time. McCluskey, a striker of guile and the coolest of heads with the ball at his feet, missed what was widely regarded as a sitter by those who never experienced the stress of going through on goal in a European quarter-final at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Celtic's victory was something of a shock at the time but nothing compared to the win over Barcelona a few seasons ago. In 1980, the club were still just about viewed as a European heavyweight, although one which in recent years had lacked a killer punch.

The next time Celtic fans enjoyed European football after Christmas came in 2003 on the road to Seville, which was some 23 years after that famous match against the Spaniards. By that time, after some don't-watch-alone performances, few expected the club to achieve much at that level ever again.

However, since that night in southern Spain, there has been a UEFA Cup quarter-final and three last-16 ties in the Champions League format, which is far more success than Celtic are entitled to given the financial constraints the club operate within.

There have been some shocking results since then as well: Maribor last year, that awful night in Bratislava when Artmedia scored five goals - but there has been far more good than bad.

This is where Celtic are in 2015. Capable of great things on the European stage but the threat of humiliation is never too far away.

Unlike in 1980 - and that Celtic team then were good if no world beaters - expectation has been tempered. Realism has by and large replaced idealism, and yet this season many supporters still fully expect Ronny Deila to take their club through three qualifiers and into the group stages of the Champions League.

The Norwegian is one of those realists, albeit one who firmly believes Celtic will not fail in their quest which begins tonight against FC Stjarnan of Iceland; he knows where his club is now compared to where some believe they belong. It's not where it used to be, which highlights how more difficult his job is and how much praise he will be owed if he succeeds.

"Last season, you saw Maribor go into the Champions League group stage and take points off Chelsea," said Deila. "Legia Warsaw also went through the Europa League group stage without losing a point. So there are good teams out there, especially the champions of different countries.

"It is a tough competition but we believe we can make it and go through to the group stage. Celtic is a very big club and we have very good players. We have good togetherness and I'm really looking forward to the games now.

"We have to beat teams of the level of Maribor and Legia. That's the level we have to be at now. We were far away from Legia's level last year but when we played Maribor, we should have beaten them. I'm not frightened about the level we are facing in the qualifiers. We are good enough to do it and I really believe in my team."

Celtic's press office has made just about every first-team player available for interview over the past three weeks and unless they have all been spinning us a line, that feeling of positivity emanated by the manager is shared by all his players. They claim to feel good, fresh and ready for the challenge ahead after preparing at home rather than the usual pre-season world tour.

"It has worked out exactly as I hoped," said Deila. "I can't see anything we should have done differently. We had a good pre-season and everyone is injury-free except Kris Commons, and he was one we couldn't do so much with.

"I am just excited to get going now and play some important games. It is very different to 12 months ago. There were a lot of new things for me last year, and also for the players. Now it is a much more settled group and we are much more prepared."

One player who has looked really at it in the warm-up games is captain Scott Brown, so badly missed a year ago when he was out injured.

Brown said: "I do feel good, I think getting away for two weeks and chilling out and doing nothing has helped me. It's relaxed the body and coming back in it's been good not having too much of a holiday and playing catch up."

"For us going right into the Champions League campaign we knew it was going to be a short break and I wasn't going to lose any fitness in the two weeks."

Not surprisingly, the most competitive of characters isn't contemplating Celtic messing up.

"It's unthinkable, especially for a club like Celtic. We should be in the group stage and that's where we want to be this season," said Brown. "We're definitely ready, the friendlies have helped us. We need to win for this club to give us the chance of getting into the group stages."