CELTIC manager Ronny Deila today said that it is impossible to put a price on the prestige on taking the club into the group stages of the Uefa Champions League.

The Parkhead side face Azerbaijan side Qarabag in their third Uefa Champions League qualifier, a game that will lead to a play-off spot for the group stages of the lucrative competition should Celtic prevail against them.

With an estimated £22million bounty for landing a place in the group stages, there is always a suggestion that the financial pull of the tournament outweighs everything else.

But Deila has insisted that it is all about the chance to compete against the best – although he has admitted that the money is a considerable motivation given the position of strength it can out Celtic in.

“The money is not so much an issue,” he said. “There is a lot of experience in the team and there are many stages that are important for us to get in.

“But if you took away the money it is the atmosphere to really experience the Champions League and fight against the best teams in the world that is the most motivating.

“Yes, but there are positives in the second one as well. [Champions League money]

“It is the same as with the players: you don’t get money out of thinking always about money. You have to love the game and you have to love to train and then the money will come.

“This is what I say to my players: if you want to think always about wanting to be rich you won’t get it. You have to be the best in something and that is how it is in football.

“Good performances, okay, you get the experience and you also get money. It is about what happens on the pitch, it is about everything.

“The money is nothing compared with the experience but when you do well everything gets higher.

“The money helps the club get more secure and we can build even more.

Given the magnitude of what is at stake, he has urged the Hoops support to come out in numbers on Wednesday night in order to back the team and transit as much energy from the terraces onto the pitch.

“We need a lot of people to the match, create an atmosphere at Celtic Park – we really, really need that for this game,” he said.

“We are going to be ready to perform at the top of our game, then we see how it goes.

“Of course the crowd make a difference. The atmosphere is so important. You saw that against Inter Milan, how important that can be.

“It’s a team who are not so very well known, Azerbaijan is not in the centre of the football world – but this is a good team.”