Celtic welcome Fenerbahce to Parkhead on Thursday for their meeting in the UEFA Europa League and manager Ronny Deila and his players are confident of securing three points to add to the one they gained a fortnight ago in the Amsterdam ArenA. Fenerbahce did not do so well in their first game of the League, losing 3-1 at home against Molde, and arrived in Glasgow on the back of a 3-2 defeat to Besiktas in an Istanbul derby game at the weekend. However, you cannot write off a side of Fenerbahce's quality with the likes of Nani and Robin van Persie in their ranks. While admitting tt won’t be easy, the Celtic manager believes that, at home, Celtic are a match for any team.
Deila said: "We had a good away game against Ajax and got a point, so we’re confident and we know we can play good football. We’ve played a lot of games in Europe now and won a lot of games lately so there is good confidence in the squad. The most important thing is that we have to know what we need to produce a good performance and everybody knows what we have to do tomorrow – we have to get out that energy and intensity for 90 minutes. We know we’re going to meet a good team and it’s going to be a tough game, but when we’re at our best, and I’ve said it before, we can beat anybody, especially here at Celtic Park. Fenerbahce are a much more experienced team than Ajax. We’re meeting players who have been in the game for many years and it’s a team put together to perform now and win things, so it’s going to be tough, but here at Celtic Park we know what we’re capable of doing."
First-team coach, John Kennedy was in Istanbul on Sunday for Fenerbahce’s meeting with Besiktas and he along with the management team have watched several of Fenerbahce’s recent games to ensure they side are ready for anything their Turkish opponents can bring to the game. Delia went on: "There is pressure on Fenerbahce after they lost at home so we could put ourselves in a very good position if we win at home. We’ve see the last four games that Fenerbahce have played and John Kennedy was over to watch the game at the weekend against Besiktas, so we know they have a lot of quality players and they are a good team when they’re playing at their best, but we’ve also seen weaknesses that we’re hoping to exploit."