ADAM Matthews today predicted Celtic’s run in the Europa League last season will help the their bid to qualify for the Champions League group stages.

The Scottish champions have been drawn to face Icelandic rivals FC Stjarnan in the second qualifying round of Europe’s elite club competition.

Ronny Deila’s side will take on the Úrvalsdeild winners in Glasgow on either July 14 of 15 and then play away at Garðabær in Reykjavik on July 21 or 22.

If Celtic are successful in their opening competitive fixtures of the 2015/16 campaign they will then have to negotiate the third qualifying round and the play-off matches.

It is, as Deila discovered last season in his first season in Scotland, a tall order to make it through to the lucrative group stages.

The Parkhead club failed to qualify last season – despite being handed a Uefa reprieve after being thrashed by Legia Warsaw.

They lost to NK Maribor on away goals after being awarded a win over Legia, who had fielded an ineligible player, in the play-off.

But they made it through to the last 32 of the Europa League and Matthews believes their experiences in that competition will prove invaluable in the weeks ahead.

And after pushing Italian cracks Inter Milan all the way in the knockout rounds, the Welsh right back believes they can do well if they do progress.

“I think we can take confidence from how we performed in the Europa League in general last season and the last two games against Inter Milan in particular,” said Matthews.

“In the first leg against Inter at Celtic Park we showed that we can attack really well against a high standard of opposition in Europe.

“We obviously conceded three goals in that game and wanted to tighten up defensively, and, for the most part, we managed to do that in the second leg.

“We restricted them to long-range shots and crosses into the box. We were happy with that aspect of our play.

“Obviously there is nothing to take confidence from when you lose a game no matter who the opposition is, but our performances were not too bad.”

Matthews believes Celtic have learned invaluable lessons from their outings home and away in the group stages of the Europa League.

Deila’s side recorded good results against Salzburg of Austria, Dynamo Zagreb of Croatia and Astra Giurgiu of Romania and impressed against Inter Milan.

And he reckons the Celtic players, not to mention their Norwegian manager, will be more streetwise in their continental outings in the coming campaign.

He said: “In the first game against Inter we tried to play like we did in the Premiership in Scotland and against better opposition you just can’t do that.

“Sometimes Emilio Izaguirre and I were caught up the pitch at the same time and they punished us for that. We had a meeting after it and agreed if one of us goes forward the other one tucks back.

“That made sure we were far more compact in the second leg. There were no gaps between us. That forced them to go round the outside and play crosses into the box.

“In that situation, we know we can defend crosses. I think we have learned from our games in the Europa League and will be well placed going into our European games now.”