ON the day he was unveiled as the 18th manager in Celtic’s 127-year history just over a year ago, Ronny Deila spoke of how a visit to Parkhead as an unknown left an imprint on him.

Deila was a visitor at the ground in November 2013, when Neil Lennon’s 10-man side – Scott Brown was dismissed in the first half for a swipe at Neymar – were beaten 1-0 by Barcelona courtesy of a Cesc Fabregas header; it is an experience that left a considerable mark.

The corridors of Lennoxtown chart the club’s most recent successes in Europe over the last decade.

A fish-eye framed poster of Celtic Park on the night that the Hoops beat Barcelona 2-1 in November 2012 – goals from Victor Wanyama and Tony Watt set the stadium alight – is impossible to overlook.

Deila conducts his daily business under the colourful array of such heady European dramas, but he has revealed that he is ready now to make a little bit of history of his own.

The manager can take a step closer to realising his dream of coaching a team in the Champions League this week as Celtic prepare for the first leg of the third-round qualifier against Qarabag.

The Hoops host the Azerbaijan side on Wednesday night and it is the tantalising possibility of hosting Europe’s elite on home soil that has Deila itching to reach the prestigious company of the group stages of the tournament.

While other young managers and coaches may hanker for a visit to prestigious stadia and the chance to mix it against the best in football’s most renowned theatres, it is in Glasgow and at Celtic Park where Deila wants to leave his mark.

“I dream of a lot of great stadiums in Europe. I haven’t been to so many!” he said.

“You have the English teams and Spanish teams, Bayern Munich, a lot of really good teams, it would be great to go to these places with Celtic.

“But it is more fun to be here at Celtic Park than to be at the Nou Camp. Of course, it’s fun to go there – but better to bring Barcelona here, to our ground.

“Why? Because here we have something that is special, the atmosphere – you feel you are part of something bigger.

“I came over for the Barcelona game, when Celtic lost 1-0. It was unbelievable. I had never seen anything like it.”

Celtic will play Rennes this afternoon in a game where everything is geared towards preparing for Wednesday’s crucial first leg.

So much of Qarabag is unknown to Celtic and the support, but while the Azerbaijan side do not carry the same appeal as one of Europe’s big names, they will without doubt offer intense resistance to Celtic’s European progress.

Very much like the Hoops, Qarabag go into the game bolstered by a relatively impressive Europa League campaign last season and Deila is very wary of the threat they will possess.

It is imperative the Parkhead side strive to make the first leg work for them and head into the return in Azerbaijan with something to protect.

And Deila believes that for Celtic to make it into the Champions League play-off round, his side must produce a level of football they were capable of midway through last term when they came up against Inter Milan in the knockout stages of the Europa League.

“We’re going to meet a very good team in a very tough game,” said the Celtic manager. “We need to be at the level we were against Inter Milan if we’re going to go through.

“You can see the results they had last year in the group, with Dnipro, Inter and St Etienne – and they beat Twente Enschede. So it’s going to be a big, big test for us.

“I know we can do it. But I know we need to be on top form to get through.

Everybody is looking differently at it, within the club. We have an analysis team, and John Kennedy is in charge of that, so he’s watching more than us, maybe,

“But then we all sit and discuss things, build up a very, very concrete match plan by the time we get to Wednesday.”

And Deila has warned against underestimating Qarabag because they come from an unknown league.

“There are not many teams around Europe who are in maybe not so good leagues, but they have a rich owner or a good team,” he said.

“Here, we’re talking about a team with Spanish players, two Brazilians. So they have money to invest in the team.

“It’s not enough just to look at the country they’re coming from. You have to look at what kind of team they are.

“They had a very hard group in the Europa League last year. Dnipro went to the final and we know how good Inter Milan were.”

And the Celtic manager has maintained that neither pressure from the board to get into the group stages nor pressure from supporters can be any more intense than what he is asking from himself.

“It is not possible to get more pressure than what you put on yourself,” he said. “This is what you want, but you have to always be honest in the situation. If you give out your best and you lose then okay, you have done what you can.

“But if you play badly and lose, that is the worst thing. What we want is to be at our best. If we can do that, then I think we have a very good chance to win and that motivates me. That is what will be important going into the game.”