Wednesday night’s Uefa Champions League qualifier against Stjarnan has been drawn into sharp focus after being the dot on the horizon.

Ronny Deila’s preparations for Champions League football began at the turn of the year as the Norwegian plotted the best path to lead Celtic into the lucrative group stage of Europe’s premier competition.

The Icelandic champions – who lost this weekend and have won just four games from their last 11 – are the first in potentially three qualifiers.

Getting through them represents an achievement as significant as winning the title.

And Deila believes that his squad are ready for the task.

Celtic overcame Real Sociedad in Paisley on Friday evening, but although the result gave them a decent springboard going into Wednesday night’s game, they are clearly still a work in progress.

The Hoops boss, however, is confident that they have enough to overcome Stjarnan.

“We have spent so long preparing for this game and now we are nearly here,” he said.

“Our whole summer was about looking to this game, about being ready for it, mentally as well as physically.

“There is not one player in our squad who does not know how big a game this is for us.

“I have every confidence that they are ready to go. They know what we need to do. The players are hungry.

“We believe that we are good enough to play in the Cham- pions League and so do they.

“There are lots of players in this Celtic team who have played for the club in that environment already and they know what it takes to play at that level and against that level of opposition.

“We have spent our pre- season trying to make sure that our heads and our bodies are in the right place. We have to show that we are good enough.”

Given Deila’s tough introduction last season to Euro-pean football, he will take nothing for granted against the Icelandic side.

Stjarnan’s ground holds just 1000 fans, an indication of just how small a club they are.

Celtic ought to ease through this round comfortably, although the bar will be raised considerably in the next round – and the next again should they prevail.

Deila has already done his homework on Stjarnan and will expect a game not dissimilar to the kind of matches that Celtic can face on league duty at Parkhead.

“I suspect that they will try and keep it very tight, sit back and try to restrict the space and time we get on the ball,” he said.

“But they are a team who work very hard for one another. You have to remember that they see this game as a big chance just the same way that we do. They will not want to give anything away and we may have to be patient and trust in ourselves.”

Deila already has his starting line-up in mind, although he has admitted that there are “one or two” positions that he has not settled on just yet.

Nadir Ciftci may have given him food for thought with his cameo appearance against Real Sociedad on Friday evening and Deila has hinted that the player could have a role to play on Wednesday.

“Most of the positions take care of themselves in terms of who will start, but there are still one or two that I have not entirely settled 100 per cent.

“I think that at this stage of the season when there are a few new players into the team you have to look at how they are gelling with the team and take it from there.”

One player who won’t play against Stjarnan is Kris Commons, who injured a toe during the summer break when a wardrobe door fell on a foot.

The absence of such an experienced player is a difficult one for Deila, who had hoped that Commons would have been available by now.

“It was disappointing,” he said. “But he did some light training last week and hopefully he will step that up in the next few days. We would be hoping that he will resume full training relatively quickly.

“He is a big loss for us, but we have other players who can step in. I have confidence in my squad here.

“We have players who have proved that they can do it on the big stage – with their inter- national teams and with Celtic.

“Players like Scott Brown and Charlie Mulgrew will be so important for us, and Kris when he is fit again. These players know what it takes.”

And Deila himself is desperate to get the opportunity to test himself in the Champions League against the very best.

“Every coach is ambitious. I want to manage a team in the Champions League – that would be huge for me. That has always been the dream.”