RONNY Deila issued a rallying cry ahead of Celtic's Champions League clash with Inter Milan tonight by insisting he was at Parkhead to make history instead of reading about it.
Celtic's old adversaries - the Italians they beat to lift the European Cup in 1967 - arrived in Glasgow yesterday and have drawn a 60,000 sell-out crowd for the Europa League last 32 first leg tie.
Deila was not born when the Lisbon Lions defeated Inter although naturally he is familiar with the greatest day in his club's history.
His interest has been respectful rather than obsessive, though, and he explained that he was too busy to devote more time to reading books or watching DVDs on Celtic's history.
"It's the best memory in Celtic history," he said. "I haven't educated myself in the history between the teams, I just know about the final. If you don't know that then you don't really know anything about the history! But I admit that I have a lot of other things to do than sit down and watch the history of Celtic. I have to make history, not watch it. It's the dream to be remembered in the history of Celtic for good things."
Tonight's tie is Celtic's 13th in Europe this season and the fifth under Deila at Parkhead, as well as being the first home sell-out since he took over last summer.
"If I don't get goosebumps here now, I might as well quit football. I'm so excited about a full stadium. I've had so many good moments now with Celtic but there are going to be much more and hopefully tomorrow we can get the performance we need and make people happy. I haven't been in the Champions League so I don't know if this feels like that. But I feel this is a big, big match. It could be a Champions League match."
The knock-out rounds mean Celtic are back into games in which away goals can be decisive. A goalless draw would be a satisfactory result ahead of next week's second leg in San Siro but Deila had no interest in that.
"That's boring! A boring 0-0 match, no thanks! But we'll see on the performance and if 0-0 is a good result based on that then we can be happy."
Kris Commons is unlikely to be risked because of a hamstring strain but Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven could both play from the start and make their European debuts for the club.
"It will be a huge night for them but they are ready and they have shown me that in training and matches. They have the skills for this level and I'm happy to see that."
There was also a hint that Leigh Griffiths would again start as the out-and-out striker. "Leigh is at a good level right now. He is scoring goals and is fit and hungry. He's not easy to play against."
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